(Washington) Joe Biden called on Saturday for a future reunification of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip under a “revitalized Palestinian Authority”, and threatened sanctions against “extremist” settlers who attack Palestinians in the West Bank.
“Gaza and the West Bank should be reunified under the same governance structure, ultimately under a revitalized Palestinian Authority”, once Hamas is driven from the Palestinian territory it has governed since 2007, following the ongoing Israeli military operation. , writes the American president in a column published by the daily Washington Post.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded in a press conference that “the Palestinian Authority in its current form was not capable of assuming responsibility for Gaza. »
PHOTO ARCHIVES REUTERS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
“We cannot have a civilian authority in Gaza that supports terrorism, encourages terrorism, finances terrorism and teaches terrorism,” he said.
Two States
President Mahmoud Abbas, who governs the autonomous areas of the West Bank, linked a return of the Palestinian Authority to the Gaza Strip at the beginning of November to a “political settlement” also including the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
“The Gaza Strip is an integral part of the State of Palestine, we will take our full responsibilities within the framework of a comprehensive political solution for the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip,” said Mahmoud Abbas while receiving Ramallah US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
In his column, Joe Biden also threatens to ban visas from “extremists who attack civilians in the West Bank”.
“Extremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank must stop and those who commit this violence must be held to account,” he insists.
“A two-state solution is the only way to ensure the long-term security of the Israeli people and the Palestinian people. Today this prospect seems more distant than ever, but the current crisis makes it more necessary than ever,” said the 80-year-old democrat.
“Getting there will require commitments from Israelis and Palestinians, as well as the United States and our partners and allies. This work must start now,” he pleads.
“Gaza must never again be used as a base for terrorism. There must be no forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, no reoccupation, no siege or blockade, and no reduction of the territory,” he lists.
“No ceasefire”
The American president also repeats his opposition to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
“As long as Hamas clings to its ideology of destruction, a ceasefire will not be peace. For Hamas members, each ceasefire gives time to replenish rocket stocks, reposition fighters and start the massacre again by attacking innocent people again,” he says.
The retaliatory bombings on the Gaza Strip have been incessant since Hamas carried out an attack of unprecedented scale and violence on Israeli soil on October 7 which left 1,200 people dead, mostly civilians, and kidnapped with other armed groups around 240 people, according to Israeli authorities.
According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, Israeli strikes killed at least 12,000 Palestinian civilians, including 5,000 children.
Tensions are also high in the West Bank, territory occupied since 1967 by Israel, where around 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers and soldiers since October 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.