Palestinians Have Little Hope for Major Breakthrough During Biden Visit
The US administration and Israel want to maintain the status quo, which is now focused only on managing the conflict and not resolving it, expert says
The hopes of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority for a major US announcement during President Joe Biden’s visit are dimming with each passing day.
Palestinian officials have been frustrated with the US administration for what they perceive as a lack of serious attention and reluctance to fulfil the promises President Biden pledged during his campaign.
President Biden is scheduled to visit Israel and the West Bank for meetings with Israeli leaders and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas before he heads to Saudi Arabia, from July 13 to July 16.
A Palestinian source told The Media Line that the PA sent an official letter to Washington on Sunday that included several Palestinian demands, among them: reopening of the US consulate in Jerusalem; reopening of the office of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Washington; removing the PLO from the US terrorism list; and refinancing the Palestinian Authority.
Ahmed Rafiq Awad, president of the Jerusalem Center for Future Studies at Al-Quds University, told The Media Line that Palestinian “expectations are quite low due to the White House’s neglect or disregard for the Palestinians’ demands.”
US officials say they didn’t abandon plans to reopen the consulate but claim that such action requires Israeli cooperation, and say that the PA needs to do more before Washington can remove the PLO from the list that designates it as a terrorist organization.
It is clear that the current US administration is not serious about taking an active role in this conflict, and it is the first US president who does not have a vision for a solution to the Palestinian issue
Rafiq Awad says the US administration and Israel want to maintain the status quo, which is now focused only on managing the conflict and not resolving it.
“It is clear that the current US administration is not serious about taking an active role in this conflict, and it is the first US president who does not have a vision for a solution to the Palestinian issue.”
Reportedly, the US has asked Israel’s new caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid to provide the Palestinians with economic steps to help strengthen Abbas’ rule. But Rafiq Awad calls it a “bribe to lure the Palestinians with cosmetic offers and solutions.”
He adds: “As if the Palestinians got their freedom and everything they aspire to, and the only thing they lack is 4G services and bread!”
With all eyes focused on President Biden’s two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, US-based Palestinian affairs expert Hasan Awwad says that the true motives behind the US president’s trip are to build on his predecessor’s success with the Abraham Accords as he tries to align Arab states and Israel over a common threat.
Awwad told The Media Line that these alliances would be part of a larger plan for the region, including the revival of the Iran nuclear agreement.
“The visit will be to support building security alliances between Israel and the countries of the region as part of the Abraham Peace Accords,” he said.
“He will strengthen existing ties between Israel and Gulf states and will work hard at bringing Saudi Arabia and Israel closer to normalization,” Awwad said.
However, Awwad argues that, despite the intense movement to engage Israel with Arab states, the Palestinians are left wondering what is their place in this diplomatic love fest.
“Biden will not do anything of substance to the Palestinians. There is no role for the Palestinian cause within this equation, as it was and is still being used by the countries of the region as a pretext for rapprochement with America and Tel Aviv, in some cases, for political gains,” he said.
The Palestinian political battlefield is in disarray with the health of the 86-year-old Abbas on the decline, and with Israel set to hold its fifth election in less than four years this fall; it makes chances for a political breakthrough between Israel and the Palestinians during the visit near zero.
Rafiq Awad sounds the alarm, saying that if the Americans do not give something “tangible” to Abbas, the PA will find itself compelled to make some tough decisions.
“If the Palestinian Authority does not get something that saves its face, not only economic incentives but political issues that lead to a political horizon, I think that the Palestinians may be forced to resort to confrontations that may be internal between them or with Israel.”
The PA has threatened several times in the past to suspend the Oslo Accords, withdraw the PLO recognition of Israel, and cancel security coordination with Israel, however, it has never followed through on those threats.
Communication between Ramallah and Washington reached rock bottom following former US President Donald Trump’s decision to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018, and to declare the city as Israel’s capital.
President Biden has insisted that Washington still supports a two-state solution and, since taking office, has resumed aid to the Palestinians and revived channels of communication, while criticizing Israeli settlement expansion as inconsistent with peace prospects, after the Trump administration signaled acceptance of such activities.
