Last update 32 minutes ago
US President Joe Biden met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank on Friday before leaving for Saudi Arabia for a controversial summit.
The two leaders shook hands before reviewing the honor guard together.
Abbas said that the Palestinians are looking forward to US steps to reopen the US consulate in East Jerusalem, remove the name of the Palestine Liberation Organization from the terror list, and reopen the Palestinian representative office in Washington.
Biden wants to improve relations between the two sides, which were frozen by the Palestinians in protest once morest the policies of his predecessor, President Donald Trump.
He is expected to announce economic support for the Palestinians, but there are no plans to resume peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis.
But Biden said, “Even if the conditions are not yet suitable for negotiations, the United States will not abandon efforts to bring the two sides together.”
Biden had visited early today, East Jerusalem, where he inspected the hospitals that provide services to the Palestinians.
The US president pledged an additional $100 million to support hospitals in East Jerusalem as part of a multi-year commitment aimed at helping Palestinian health services.
Biden’s pledge came during his visit to the Augusta Victoria Hospital (The Insider) in Jerusalem.
“Today, I am pleased to announce the United States’ commitment to provide an additional $100 million to support these hospitals and their staff working for the Palestinian people,” Biden said.
Biden traveled to Saudi Arabia to meet the country’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Biden is scheduled to meet the prince and his father, King Salman.
picture released, Getty Images
President Biden is scheduled to meet with Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Biden had vowed two years ago to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” state due to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 at the hands of Saudi agents.
Prince Mohammed bin Salman denies any involvement in the crime, but US intelligence concluded that he was the one who gave the approval for the operation.
Issues to be discussed between the two leaders will include energy supply, human rights and security cooperation.
Biden’s meeting with Abbas is the highest-level meeting between the two sides since the Palestinians froze relations in a row over the closure of the office of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Washington – the main representative of the Palestinians – by the Trump administration in 2018.
The Palestinians want the United States to do more to restart peace talks with Israel and reopen the US Consulate in Jerusalem, which served as a de facto embassy to the Palestinians before it was closed under the Trump administration in 2019.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BBC Middle East Correspondent
US President Joe Biden visited East Jerusalem, which is considered part of the occupied Palestinian territories. This is the first time that a US president who is still in office has visited this part of the city outside the old city walls.
And what we’ll see from the United States in this part of the tour, with President Biden spending a few hours with the Palestinians, is a massive aid package – $200 million for UNRWA, which handles Palestinian refugee affairs, and some signs of goodwill.
As for Biden’s meeting with President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem, it is more regarding politics than anything else.
The Biden administration has tried to restore relations with the Palestinians that were severed under President Trump. He spoke of his personal commitment to the idea of a two-state solution – which means an independent Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel – as a way to end the long-running conflict here.
He says that cannot be seen in the near future as conditions are unfavorable on both sides.
There is a lot of frustration on the Palestinian side when you talk to people regarding it. The idea of a viable state is waning all the time in their eyes.
Things will be different with President Biden, but much more needs to be done to repair this relationship.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
As for Saudi Arabia, it is considered the largest oil producer in the world, and the attempt to reset relations with it comes in the wake of the rise in oil prices caused by the Russian war in Ukraine.
The United States is expected to pressure Saudi officials to commit to increasing production.
And Saudi Arabia announced late Thursday that it would open its airspace to commercial Israeli flights – a decision the United States welcomed.
This step will see the airspace of Saudi Arabia open to all airlines that meet their requirements to cross the airspace, and pave the way for more flights to and from Israel.
picture released, Getty Images
Biden will travel from Israel, where he met Prime Minister Yair Lapid.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the Saudi move “paves the way for a more integrated, stable and secure Middle East.”
Biden will become the first US president to travel directly to Saudi Arabia from Israel, which is seen as a small but significant sign of Riyadh’s growing acceptance of Israel following decades of boycott in solidarity with the Palestinians.
Biden will arrive Friday evening in the Saudi city of Jeddah, where he will meet Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the first time since taking office.
Biden, 79, has so far insisted on speaking to King Salman, who US officials say is the US president’s direct counterpart.
White House officials declined to say whether Biden would raise the issue of the murder of Khashoggi, who was living in the United States and writing for the Washington Post.
They also declined to say whether the two leaders would shake hands.
picture released, Getty Images
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with President Trump at the White House in 2018.
The planned meeting has angered some in Biden’s Democratic Party, who want him to use the meeting to object to Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.
Adam Schiff, a leading Democrat in the House of Representatives, said last week that he would not have visited the country or met Prince Mohammed if he had been in Biden’s place.
“This is a man who slaughtered an American resident and cut him to pieces in the most brutal and premeditated way,” Schiff said. “Until Saudi Arabia makes a fundamental change in terms of human rights, I wouldn’t want anything related to it.”
Biden defended his decision, telling reporters earlier this week in Jerusalem that “his position on Khashoggi was very clear, and if someone doesn’t understand him in Saudi Arabia or otherwise, they haven’t been close to me for some time.”
The US president said his Middle East tour – where he will also meet the leaders of Egypt, Iraq and Jordan – offers an opportunity to correct “the mistake of turning away from our influence in the Middle East”, in an apparent attack on the policies of his predecessor, President Donald Trump.
