Biden meets Palestinian leader ahead of Saudi visit
Palestinian US President Joe Biden met Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas in the occupied West Bank Friday for talks expected to focus on economic measures without striking any major diplomatic breakthrough.
His arrival in Bethlehem comes ahead of a visit to Saudi Arabia, whose leaders on Friday changed aviation rules in an apparent gesture of openness towards Israel.
Riyadh paved the way for Israeli planes to use its airspace by announcing it was lifting restrictions on ‘all carriers’, a move welcomed by Biden as ‘historic’.
The president’s visit to the Saudi city of Jeddah will follow talks with Abbas, the latest high-level diplomatic meetings after those with the Israeli leadership on Thursday.
Turning his attention to Palestinian affairs, Biden visited a hospital in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem yesterday where he announced a US$100 million aid package for medical institutions in the area.
“These hospitals are the backbone of the Palestinian healthcare system,” he said, after talking extensively about his own family’s experience of emergency care.
With Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations moribund since 2014, a US official said the delegation would be taking economic measures.
They include an ‘additional US$201 million’ for the UN agency serving Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), a senior administration official said.
Funding for the agency was cut by Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump.
But Biden made clear on Thursday he had no plans to reverse the controversial move to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital by Trump, which infuriated Palestinians who see its eastern sector as the seat of their future state.
The US delegation will also unveil plans to roll out infrastructure for 4G internet across the Gaza Strip and the West Bank by the end of next year, fulfilling a longstanding aspiration among Palestinians as some of their Israeli neighbours already tap in to faster 5G networks.
With Palestinians banned by Israel from political activity in Jerusalem, the US president travelled to Bethlehem to meet Abbas.
Following the visit to the West Bank, Biden will fly from Israel to Iran’s regional rival Saudi Arabia.
These hospitals are the backbone of the Palestinian healthcare system.
Joe Biden