“There must be a political horizon for the Palestinian people,” US President Joe Biden acknowledged on Friday, despite the fact, according to him, that the conditions were not met at this stage to relaunch the Israeli-Israeli peace talks. Palestinians.
“We will never give up working for peace. There must be a political horizon that the Palestinian people can at least see or feel for the future. We cannot allow desperation to mortgage the future,” Biden said during a joint press briefing with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank.
If Mr. Biden also pleaded for an “independent Palestinian state” with “territorial continuity”, he however affirmed that the conditions were not currently met to relaunch the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, stalled since 2014.
He also pleaded for “all” light to be shed on the death of American-Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, killed last May while covering an Israeli military operation in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel.
Mr. Biden paid tribute to the “vital work” of the great reporter of the Qatar channel Al Jazeera.
The UN, the Palestinian Authority of Mr. Abbas and various media in particular maintain that the fatal shot came from the weapon of an Israeli soldier, a scenario deemed “likely” by the United States which assessed the bullet but However, the hypothesis of a deliberate shooting was ruled out, which upset the Abu Akleh family and the Palestinians.
For his part, Mr. Abbas insisted on political measures to put an end to Israeli “apartheid” in the Occupied Territories.
He also asked Mr. Biden to reopen the American consulate for the Palestinians in Jerusalem, closed under the administration of Donald Trump, and to hold Israel “responsible” for the death of Shireen Abu Akleh.
On another level, Mr. Biden announced a project to deploy 4G in the West Bank in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian enclave under Israeli blockade, where 3G and 2G respectively reign.