UNITED NATIONS (PA) – US President Joe Biden’s administration announced on Tuesday that it is restoring relations with Palestinians and renewing aid to Palestinian refugees, a reversal of the Trump administration’s border and a key element of its new support for a two-decade-old conflict. between Israelis and Palestinians.
Incumbent US Ambassador Richard Mills announced Biden’s approach to a virtual summit of the Security Council, saying the new US administration believes this “remains the best way to secure Israel’s future as a democratic state and while supporting the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians. for a state of their own and to live with dignity and security. ”
President Donald Trump’s administration has offered Israel unprecedented support, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, moving the US Embassy in Tel Aviv, reducing financial assistance to Palestinians and reversing the course on the illegitimacy of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.
Israel captured East Jerusalem and the West Bank in the 1967 war. The international community considers both areas to be occupied territory, and the Palestinians are looking for them as part of a future independent state. Israel has built a remote network of settlements that has housed nearly 700,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Jerusalem since their capture in 1967.
The peace plan unveiled by Trump a year ago envisions a disorganized Palestinian state handing over key parts of the West Bank to Israel, joining Israel on key controversial issues, including the borders and status of Jerusalem and Jewish settlements. It was vehemently rejected by the Palestinians.
Mills clarified the Biden administration’s fairer approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Under the new administration, the policy of the United States will be to support a two-state solution agreed upon, one in which Israel lives in peace and security with a viable Palestinian state,” he said.
Mills said peace could not be imposed on either side and stressed that progress and a final solution required the participation and agreement of Israelis and Palestinians.
“To advance these goals, the Biden administration will restore the US’s credible commitment to both the Palestinians and the Israelis,” he said.
“This will involve renewed US relations with the Palestinian leadership and the Palestinian people,” Mills said.
“President Biden has made it clear that he intends to re-establish US assistance programs that support economic development and humanitarian aid programs for the Palestinian people and to take steps to reopen diplomatic relations that were closed by the last US administration.” Mills said.
Trump cut off funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency, known as UNRWA, which was set up to help the 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were forced to flee their homes during the 1948 Israeli-Israeli war. It provides education, health care, food and other assistance to approximately 5.5 million refugees and their descendants in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. The US was the main donor to UNRWA and the loss of funds created a financial crisis for the agency.
The Trump administration closed the Palestine Liberation Organization’s office in Washington in September 2018, effectively closing the Palestinian diplomatic mission in the United States.
Mills said the United States hopes to begin work to slowly build the trust of both sides to create an environment that will lead to a two-state solution.
To pursue this goal, Mills said: “The United States will call on the Israeli government and the Palestinians to avoid unilateral measures that make a two-state solution more difficult, such as annexation, settlement activities, demolition, incitement to violence and security. compensation for persons in prison for acts of terrorism. ”
Israel has accused the Palestinians of inciting violence and has vehemently opposed the Palestinian Authority paying the families of detainees for attacking or killing Israelis.
Mills stressed that “the United States will maintain strong support for Israel” – opposing unilateral resolutions and other actions in international bodies that unjustly distinguish Israel and promoting Israel’s position and participation in the UN and other international organizations.
The Biden administration welcomes the recent normalization of relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations and will urge other countries to establish ties, Mills said.
“However, we recognize that Arab-Israeli normalization is not a substitute for Israeli-Palestinian peace,” he said.
Mills stressed that the full state of Israeli-Palestinian policy and the fact that trust between the two sides “is at a lower level” do not relieve UN member nations of the responsibility of trying to maintain the viability of a two-state state. “
Before Mills spoke, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki harshly criticized the Trump administration for using “US power and influence to support Israel’s illegal efforts to strengthen its occupation and control” and reiterated Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s hopes. “For the resumption of relationships and positive commitment. ”
“Now is the time to heal and repair the damage left by the previous US administration,” he said. “We look forward to reversing the illegal and hostile measures taken by the Trump administration and working together for peace.”
Malki called for the revival of the Middle East Quartet of Mediators – the United States, the UN, the European Union and Russia – and reiterated Abbas’s call for an international peace conference “that could signal a turning point in this conflict.” He hoped that “the United States will play an important role in the multilateral efforts for peace in the Middle East.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow was convinced that the Quartet, which works closely with both sides and the Arab states, “could play a very, very effective role.”
In support of Abbas’s call for an international conference, Lavrov proposed holding a ministerial meeting this spring or summer with the Quartet and Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia, to discuss the current situation and help. launching a dialogue ”between Israelis and Palestinians.
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said “Palestinians have come under unprecedented pressure from the former US administration,” and said the organization’s 22 members look forward to correcting Biden’s actions and working with him. international and regional parties to relaunch a “serious peace process”.
But Israel’s UN ambassador Gilad Erdan told the council that instead of focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it should focus on Iran, which “does not try to hide its intention to destroy the only Jewish state in the world.” ”.
Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he suggested to the council to discuss what he called “the real obstacles to peace: Palestinian incitement and the culture of hatred.”
Israel remains willing to make peace “when there is a willing partner,” Erdan said, accusing Abbas of inciting violence and saying he should come to the negotiating table “without making outrageous demands and not appealing.” at another useless international conference … (which) is just a distraction. ”