While meeting with Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, on Friday in Bethlehem, Vice President Joe Biden reiterated his support for the two-state solution.
As he went through East Jerusalem and to the occupied West Bank this morning, Biden was met with cries of “Justice for Shireen,” including from Abbas.
He also called the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh a “enormous loss” that required investigation.
Standing next to Abbas, Biden declared, “As I stand with you today, now that I am president of the United States, my dedication to the goal of a two-state solution has not altered in all these years.”
“The Palestinian people deserve a separate, sovereign, sustainable, and contiguous state of their own.”
Speaking first and through a translator, Abbas questioned Biden: “Mr. President, isn’t it time for this occupation to stop after 74 years of the Nakba, the displacement, and the occupation?”
And for our staunch people to regain their freedom and independence, as well as for our young people, whose ingenuity we value and in whom we have faith, to realize their dreams of a bright future free from occupation? Added Abbas.
When hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled in the conflict that followed the founding of Israel, it was known as the “Nakba,” which means “catastrophe” in Arabic.
“In this regard, we say that the key to peace and security in our region begins with recognizing the state of Palestine and enabling the Palestinian people to obtain their legitimate rights in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions and ending all the permanent status issues including the Palestinian refugees issues – and the way to that begins with ending the Israeli occupation of our land,” said Abbas.
According to Abbas, Palestine should be established within the boundaries of 1967, with East Jerusalem serving as its capital.
The same borders were later stated by Biden, but with “mutually-agreed-to exchanges.”
Additionally, he advised Biden that the US should delist the Palestine Liberation Organization from its list of foreign terrorist organizations and reopen its consulate in East Jerusalem.
Abbas said, “We are not terrorists. We also anticipate reopening a PLO office in Washington, he continued.
According to Abbas, “Mr. President, we look forward to the efforts of your administration to turn the page on the Israeli occupation of our land and the racial apartheid crimes against our people and to stop unilateral moves that undermine the two-state solution.”
When Biden landed in the occupied West Bank, he was welcomed with a fair amount of ceremony.
As Biden and Abbas inspected the military and national anthems were played outside the Palestinian Muqataa Presidential Compound, the Palestinians practically put out the red carpet in Bethlehem.
The 86-year-old Abbas, leader of the Palestinian Authority, who works with Israel on security issues and oversees some of the occupied West Bank, and Biden clasped hands.
There was an empty chair among the Palestinian press corps facing the platform in the room where the leaders would speak thereafter, and it had a photo of Akleh on it.
The words “The voice of Palestine” were inscribed in Arabic on the picture, and Akleh was wearing a bulletproof vest.
After Akleh was shot and died in May while reporting a raid by the Israel Defense Forces, there were also calls for “Justice for Shireen” at an earlier hospital stop and along the motorcade’s route.
A number of Palestinian journalists covering Biden were sporting t-shirts bearing Akleh’s image.
On his four-day journey to the Middle East, Biden is not anticipated to meet with the journalist’s family.
During his first stop of the day, Biden visited the Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem and declared he would ask Congress for $100 million to support the hospital system’s healthcare services, which are used by the Palestinian people.
In his brief remarks, the president stated that “Palestinians and Israelis deserve equal measures of freedom, security, prosperity, and dignity and access to healthcare, when you need it, is crucial to live a life of dignity for all of us.”
Biden followed his wife, First Lady Jill Biden, who had previously made two trips to the hospital.
According to Dr. Fadi Atrash, the CEO of the hospital and secretary general of the East Jerusalem Hospital Network, his presence was “giving hope to thousands of Palestinians.”
Atrash declared, “We Palestinians are the same as Americans.” “We each have a dream that we hope to realize.
And to do this, we need friends like you in America and around the world. We also need hope, justice, and freedom.
Atrash continued, “We are incredibly, incredibly glad to have you, and you are most welcome, Mr. President.”
When Biden took the stage, he spoke about being Irish-American and compared the conflict between Palestine and Israel to the bond between Irish Catholics and Great Britain.
Are there any nurses in the room, he then inquired.
The president joked, “If not, I’m going home,” to laughter. If there are any angels in heaven, please know that I genuinely mean no, no, no.
The doctor saved their lives, but the nurses made them want to live, according to Biden.
“My wife and daughter were slain and my boys were trapped in a vehicle for there hours when a tractor-trailer hit them,” he added.
The president discussed his own health issues, including two aneurysms and an additional embolism.
I jokingly stated they had to remove the top of my head twice because they couldn’t locate a brain the first time, Biden added.
He said, “I don’t think you nurses are nearly appreciated enough,” in a more somber voice.
He recalled being in the intensive care unit and claimed that this was the first time he had ever said these things in public.
The president said, “And you look at the monitors and you know if the line goes flat you’re dead.”
But you just feel worn out and want to give up, even when you’re not in agony.
And the Walter Reed Hospital nurses. would emerge, rubbing my cheek and whispering in my ear.
They’d approach and reassure me that everything would be fine. They had an impact on my life, he claimed.
As the Delaware attorney general was dozing among fire pits, the president went to his late son Beau Biden, who passed away in 2015 from glioblastoma, which he said was caused by his son’s service in Iraq.
Biden said, “He should be the one talking to you as president, not me.”
The president then returned to the topic at issue, making the announcement about the $100 million contribution to the hospital system in Palestine.
In order to maintain long-term financial stability, he said, “It is my desire that the United States will work together to both reduce the hospital’s debt burden and support targeted infrastructure updates and important reforms in patient care.”
“We also appreciate the UAE’s $25 million donation.” The president continued, “And I urge other countries in the area and around the world to step up as well with their own contributions to support the crucial work that is being done here.”
The “United States will continue to work with the Palestinian leadership, the Israeli government, and all our international partners to ensure that East Jerusalem’s hospital network retains sustainable, is available, and is able to provide high-quality care that the Palestinian people deserve,” he declared.
Additionally, Biden will promise the Palestinians that Israel will upgrade wifi connections.
But that’s all he’ll have to offer.
Biden is in favor of a two-state solution, but there is no obvious way to establish a Palestinian state on its own.
We have not implemented a top-down strategy because of the practical realities on the ground, but rather, we have consistently stated that if the parties are prepared to negotiate, as we believe they should, we will be there by their side, according to a senior administration official.
East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza—territories Israel took in the 1967 Middle East conflict—are the three areas the Palestinians aspire to become independent states.
The proposal is backed by the international community as well, but given the hardening of both sides’ attitudes, it seems like a faraway goal.
The caretaker prime minister, Yair Lapid, is in favor of two states, but he is not authorized to begin peace talks.
Additionally, a right-wing administration hostile to the establishment of a Palestinian state may win Israel’s elections on November 1.
After barely mentioning the Palestinians over the previous two days, the president will devote his final day in Israel to the West Bank.
Throughout his trip in Israel, Biden consistently complimented the nation, which has been a longtime ally of the United States.
Israeli officials took issue with the fact that none of their representatives were there when Biden visited the hospital since they felt it was taking place on their soil.
However, a senior administration official described it as a “private visit” and noted that Jill Biden had previously visited the facility while serving as second lady, claiming the Bidens have a long history with it.
After visiting the hospital, Biden will travel to Bethlehem to meet with Abbas and then visit the Church of the Nativity.
Later, he travels to Saudi Arabia.