Palestine lacks faith in Biden visit
>>RAMALLAH: As the United States strives to boost defence ties between Israel and Arab states, Palestinians await with increasing gloom the first visit of President Joe Biden after what they see as a string of broken promises by Washington.
Requests for the reopening of the US consulate in Jerusalem, closed by former president Donald Trump, or lifting the classification of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as a terrorist organisation have gone unheard, Palestinians say.
“We have no illusions that the visit will achieve a political breakthrough. We will be listening to more pledges and promises,” a senior Palestinian official said. “This visit is about normalising ties between Israel and Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia.”
Mr Biden will visit Israel and the West Bank, meeting Israeli leaders and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, as well as Saudi Arabia from July 13-16.
A spokesperson for the US Office of Palestinian Affairs said Washington believed a two-state solution was the best way for both Israel and the Palestinians to resolve their generations-long conflict.
It was also committed to reopening the consulate, seen by Palestinians as an implicit recognition of East Jerusalem’s status as capital of a future Palestinian state on territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
In a call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, Mr Abbas urged the administration to put pressure on Israel to preserve the historic status quo in East Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa mosque compound there. Israel rejects allegations that it has tried to change the status quo.
Palestinians also say Israel’s continued settlement activities in the occupied West Bank dim any prospect for a viable Palestinian state co-existing alongside Israel.
“Abbas told Blinken the situation can’t continue like this,” the official said.
US officials reject the assertion that the Biden administration has broken its pledges to the Palestinians and point to changes after the breakdown of relations under the administration of former president Donald Trump.
They say reopening the consulate would require Israeli cooperation and they that removing the PLO’s terrorist designation would require the Palestinian Authority to take steps it has so far failed to do.
Despite Palestinian disappointment, they say Mr Biden has restarted aid and reopened lines of communication.
“Recall that we walked into a situation in which our ties with the Palestinians were totally severed [by the Trump administration]. So we turned back on the funding, rebuilt relationships …. and there will be more to come,” a senior Biden official said.
But the intense focus on boosting security cooperation between Israel and US-aligned Arab countries to confront a potential threat from Iran means that any move towards a wider resolution of the Palestinian issue remains far off.