UNITED NATIONS (AP) – US President Joe Biden’s government announced on Tuesday that it would restore relations with the Palestinians and renew aid to Palestinian refugees, a reversal of the Trump administration’s cutbacks and a key element of its new support for a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
Acting US Ambassador Richard Mills announced Biden’s approach to a high-level virtual meeting of the Security Council, saying the new US government believes it ‘is the best way to make Israel’s future a democratic and Jewish state while maintaining the Palestinian legal aspiration. for one’s own condition and to live with dignity and security. ”
President Donald Trump’s government has provided unprecedented support to Israel, by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv, dismantling financial aid for the Palestinians and the illegality of Israeli settlements on Palestinian-claimed land be, turned over.
Israel conquered East Jerusalem and the West Bank in the 1967 war. The international community regards both territories as occupied territories, and the Palestinians seek them out as parts of a future independent state. Israel has built a distant 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 launched by Trump a year ago envisages an independent Palestinian state that surrenders important parts of the West Bank to Israel and commits itself to Israel over important controversial issues, including borders and the status of Jerusalem and Jewish settlements. It was strongly rejected by the Palestinians.
Mills made clear the Biden government’s more equitable approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Under the new government, it will be the policy of the United States to support a mutually agreed two-state solution, in which Israel lives in peace and security with a viable Palestinian state,” he said.
According to Mills, neither side can establish peace, emphasizing that progress and a final solution require the participation and consent of Israelis and Palestinians.
“To advance these goals, the Biden government will restore credible US involvement with Palestinians as well as Israelis,” he said.
“This will involve the renewal of US relations with the Palestinian leadership and the Palestinian people,” Mills said.
“President Biden was clear that he intends to restore US aid programs that support economic development programs and humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people and take steps to reopen the diplomatic relations concluded by the last US government.” Mills said.
Trump raised money for the UN Emergency Relief Agency, known as UNRWA, which was set up to help the 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were forced out of their homes during the war around the founding of Israel in 1948. It provides education, health care , food and other aid to about 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 largest donor to UNRWA and the loss of funds created a financial crisis for the agency.
The Trump administration closed the office of the Palestinian Liberation Organization in Washington in September 2018 and effectively closed the diplomatic mission to the United States.
Mills said the United States hopes to begin work to slowly build trust on both sides to create an environment for a two-state solution.
To achieve this goal, Mills said: ‘The United States will urge the Israeli government and the Palestinians to avoid unilateral steps that would complicate a two-state solution, such as annexation of territory, settlement activity, demolition, incitement to violence and provision of compensation for violence. for individuals in prison for acts of terrorism. ”
Israel has accused the Palestinians of inciting violence and vehemently opposed the Palestinian Authority paying families of the prisoners for the attack or murder of Israelis.
Mills stressed that “the US will maintain its steadfast support for Israel” – against unilateral resolutions and other actions in international bodies that unfairly exclude Israel and promote Israel’s position and participation in the UN and other international organizations.
The Biden government welcomes the recent normalization of relations between Israel and a number of Arab countries and will urge other countries to establish ties, Mills said.
“Yet we realize that Arab-Israeli normalization is not a substitute for Israeli-Palestinian peace,” he said.
Mills stressed that the icy state of Israeli-Palestinian politics, and the fact that trust between the two parties “is at a disadvantage”, does not relieve the UN member states of the responsibility to ensure the viability of a two-state try not to save. solution. ”
Before Mills spoke, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki sharply criticized the Trump administration for “using the power and influence of the United States to support Israel’s illegal attempts to entrench its occupation and control.” “and reiterated the hope of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas” for the resumption of relations. and positive engagement. ”
“Now is the time to heal and repair the damage left behind by the previous US government,” he said. “We look forward to reversing the illegal and hostile measures taken by the Trump administration and to working together for peace.”
Malki called for the Quartet of Middle East mediators to be revived – the US, UN, European Union and Russia – and reiterated Abbas’ call for an international peace conference “which could mark a turning point in this conflict.” He also expressed hope that “the United States will play a key role in multilateral peace efforts in the Middle East.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow was convinced that the Quartet, working closely with both sides and Arab states, could “play a very, very effective role.”
In support of Abbas’ call for an international conference, Lavrov suggested holding a ministerial meeting this spring or summer with the Quartet and Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain as well as Saudi Arabia to analyze the current situation. and to help establish a dialogue ”between Israelis and Palestinians.
Ahmed Aboul Gheit, secretary general of the Arab League, said “Palestinians have suffered under unprecedented pressure from the former US government” and said the 22 members of the organization look forward to Biden Trump’s actions and cooperating with international and regional parties will work to resume a “serious peace process.”
But Israel’s UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan, told the council that instead of concentrating on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it should focus on Iran, which ‘does not try to defy the world’s only Jewish state. destroy, not hide ‘.
On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he suggested that the council discuss what he calls ‘the real obstacles to peace: Palestinian incitement and a 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 a to ask other meaningless international conference … (which) is just a distraction. ”