Another Trump reversal: Biden to follow more active policy on Palestinians
THE BIDEN administration is moving slowly but surely toward reengaging with the Palestinians after a near total absence of official contact during former President Donald Trump’s four years in office.
As American officials plan steps to restore direct ties with the Palestinian leadership, U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security team is taking steps to restore relations that had been severed while Trump pursued a Mideast policy focused largely around Israel, America’s closest partner in the region.
On Tuesday, for the second time in two days, Biden’s administration categorically embraced a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, something that Trump had been purposefully vague about while slashing aid to the Palestinians and taking steps to support Israel’s claims to land that the Palestinians want for an independent state.
The State Department said Tuesday that a U.S. delegation attended a meeting of a Norwegian-run committee that serves as a clearinghouse for assistance to the Palestinians. Although littleknown outside foreign policy circles, the so-called Ad Hoc Liaison Committee has been influential in the peace process since Israel and the Palestinians signed the Oslo Accords in 1993.
the discussion, the United States reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to advancing prosperity, security, and freedom for both Israelis and Palestinians and to preserve the prospects of a negotiated two-state solution in which Israel lives in peace and security alongside a viable Palestinian state,” the State Department said in a statement.
“The United States underscored the commitment to supporting economic and humanitarian assistance and the need to see progress on outstanding projects that will improve the lives of the Palestinian people, while urging all parties to avoid unilateral steps that make a two-state solution more difficult to achieve,” it said, according to remarks carried by The Associated Press (AP).
U.S. participation in the meeting followed a Monday call between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israel’s foreign minister in which Blinken stressed that the new U.S. administration unambiguously supports a two-state solution. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is close to Trump, has eschewed the two-state solution.
Biden spoke to Netanyahu last week for the first time as president after a delay that many found suspicious and suggestive of a major realignment in U.S. policy. The delay in the traditional courtesy call was also widely regarded by analysts as a sign that Biden did not want to be seen boosting Netanyahu ahead of Israel’s March 23 elections. Some said it could foreshadow chillier relations if Netanyahu wins re-election, but there were no immediate signs of tensions in relatively bland accounts of the call released by the two governments.
“It was a good conversation,” Biden told reporters in the Oval Office where he was meeting U.S. labor leaders. Biden and Netanyahu spoke for about an hour on issues including the “Iranian threat” and Israel’s budding relations with Arab and Muslim countries, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement, according to Reuters.
Blinken, however, has spoken to Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi twice amid ongoing concern in Israel about Biden’s intentions in the region, particularly his desire to reenter the Iran nuclear deal. In Monday’s call, Blinken “emphasized the Biden administration’s belief that the two-state solution is the best way to ensure Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state, living in peace alongside a viable and democratic Palestinian state,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.
The Trump administration had presented its own version of a two-state peace plan, though it would have required significant Palestinian concessions on territory and sovereignty.
The Palestinians, however, rejected it out of hand and accused the U.S. of no longer being an honest peace broker after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, moved the U.S. embassy to the city from Tel Aviv, cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA), closed the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington and rescinded a long-standing legal opinion that Israeli settlement activity is illegitimate under international law.
A SPECTACULAR Olivier Giroud overhead kick gave Chelsea a 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid in Tuesday’s Champions League last-16 first leg in Bucharest.
The French striker broke the deadlock in the 68th minute with an outrageous bicycle kick which was flagged offside but eventually given following a lengthy VAR review as the ball had come off Atletico’s Mario Hermoso before Giroud hit it.
Joao Felix had attempted an overhead effort earlier in the second half but missed the target in one of few chances for Atletico, who was forced to play its home leg over 3,000 kilometers from Madrid due to Spanish restrictions on arrivals from Britain to control the spread of COVID-19 infections.
Chelsea looked more likely to find a second goal than Atletico did an equalizer but Thomas Tuchel’s side will be without Mason Mount and Jorginho in the second leg at Stamford Bridge on March 17 as they will be suspended after being booked.
Atletico has led the La Liga standings for most of the season but has experienced a dip in form in February and went into Tuesday’s match smarting from a shock 2-0 defeat at home to Levante after drawing two of its previous three games.
Deprived of the usual raucous atmosphere it would normally expect for a European knockout game at the Wanda Metropolitano and forced to take a fourhour flight to the game, there was little sense of them having a home advantage.
It played with little ambition or intensity and could not manage a single shot on target to bother Chelsea keeper Edouard Mendy.
Chelsea played with more confidence and purpose and was only let down by its final pass.
Luckily, it could count on the improvisation of Giroud when Hermoso’s attempted clearance sent the ball looping backward and within range of the Frenchman.
LEWANDOWSKI EYES CL RECORD
In Rome, Robert Lewandowski became the Champions League’s third top scorer of all time as holder Bayern Munich put one foot in the quarterfinals with a 4-1 thrashing of Lazio.
The Polish striker pounced on a poorly judged back pass after nine minutes to steer in his 72nd goal in the competition.
In doing so, he surpassed former Real Madrid striker Raul in the competition scoring charts to reach a total only bettered by Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo, with 134 goals, and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, with 119.