No definite move on Palestine front

US President Joe Biden’s visit to West Bank and his meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem on Saturday brought no assurance or hope to the Palestinians. President Biden did not offer any concrete proposals to re-start the negotiations between Palestine and Israel. A whole street was left empty to mark the killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli security forces.

The United States has conceded that it is a bullet fired by the Israeli security that killed Akleh. Seeing the constricted conditions in the West Bank and in Gaza because of the restrictions imposed by Israel, President Biden had to admit, “You can feel…the grief and frustration.” All that the American president could offer was a $100 million multi-year package after visiting a capital in East Jerusalem, measures to upgrade telecom networks to the 4G standards by 2023 and a separate $201 million for Palestinian refugees through UNRWA (United National Relief and Works Agency).

President Biden said, “Even if the ground is not ripe at this moment to restart negotiations, the United Nations and my administration will not give up on trying to bring …both sides closer together.”

And acknowledged that the creation of an independent Palestinian state remained a distant prospect. President Abbas pleaded that the US should open its consulate in East Jerusalem as the Palestinians want it to be the capital of the future state.

He also reminded President Biden that the two-state solution may not remain an option for a long time, and he asked the American president whether it was not time to end the Israeli occupation of West Bank. He also asked the US to remove the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) from the list of terrorist organisations, and allow the PLO to open its office in Washington.

It was evident that Israel remains an important partner for the US in West Asia, and especially against Iran and its suspected nuclear weapons programme.

The US and Israel have made it amply clear during President Biden’s visit to Israel that both the countries would oppose any move by Iran to make nuclear weapons.

As Washington considers Tel Aviv a key partner in its opposition to Tehran, it is understandable that President Biden is not in position to pressurise Israel to talk with the Palestinians and push for the two-state solution.

It might however be for the US to ignore the Palestinian problem even as Washington wants Israel to be a natural member of the Middle East state system.

The Palestinians expect the US and its leaders to use their influence with Israel to get Tel Aviv to talk to the Palestinians and move towards a political solution to the long-festering problem.

The Arab states are willing to accept Israel as part of the regional set up but it will be difficult for them to relegate the issue of the Palestinians to the background.

There is uncertainty on the internal Palestinian front as well. President Abbas, 87, is frail and there is no leader of the Palestinians to speak up for the people as Abbas has done after the death of Yasser Arafat in 2004.

The  government in Gaza makes things more difficult for Abbas and the Palestinians.

It reveals that that the Palestinians are not united, and they do not have a leader who can speak to the world about the Palestinian issue.

The Palestinian political leadership has also made it difficult for the Arab countries in the region.

Many a time, the Arab states had to play the role of the peacemaker for the Palestinian factions.

The tragedy of the Palestinian people continues 74 years after the creation of Israel, and nearly 30 years after the Oslo Accords.