The Palestinian Authority is pressuring the US administration to have Biden include a call for a freeze on construction in the settlements, or at least outside the blocs, in his remarks during his visit to the region, Reshet Bet radio reported Tuesday morning, citing sources in Ramallah.
The PA sources said that US officials had told them that Biden was considering saying in his statements that continued construction in the settlements jeopardized the two-state solution and distanced the parties from a permanent agreement. The same sources further estimated that Biden is likely to also refer to the two-state solution and say that this is the only solution acceptable to the Americans.
Barak Ravid on Sunday cited five Israeli officials who said Biden will announce $100 million in aid to Arab hospitals in East Jerusalem during his visit. Meanwhile, the American delegation banned Israeli officials from joining the president’s visit to Augusta Victoria, an Arab hospital compound on Mt. Olives in eastern Jerusalem (Report: Israeli Officials Banned from Biden’s Visit to Arab Hospital in Eastern Jerusalem).
Biden will land in Israel on Wednesday for his first visit since he was elected president – his tenth visit to Israel since that time when he claims Golda Meir asked him to mediate peace with Egypt in 1973 (Revealed: A Young Senator Biden Delivered Egyptian Disinformation to Israel Ahead of Yom Kippur War).
Israel is preparing several concessions to the PA ahead of the presidential visit: approval of illegal Arab construction in Area C which is under complete Israeli control; allowing the PA to integrate 4G, the fourth generation of broadband cellular network technology; and possibly an announcement of convening a Joint Economic Committee for Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
A senior PA official told Kan 11 News that Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told Defense Minister Benny Ganz during their recent meeting that in the absence of a political horizon, all steps taken by Israel in the economic and civilian spheres are purely cosmetic and useless.
So good luck.
