22 May 2024; MEMO: US President, Joe Biden, believes a Palestinian State should be achieved through negotiations, not unilateral recognition, the White House said on Wednesday after Ireland, Spain and Norway said they would recognise a Palestinian State this month, Reuters reports.
Washington’s reaction appeared to signal US dismay that the three European nations announced intent to proceed with unilateral recognition of a Palestinian State, which does not exist in practice.
White House National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, told a regular news briefing each country could make its own decision on recognition of a Palestinian State, but that Biden thinks direct negotiations by the parties is the best approach.
“President Biden believes that a two-state solution that guarantees Israel’s security and also a future of dignity and security for the Palestinian people is the best way to bring about long-term security and stability for everyone in the region,” Sullivan said.
“President Biden … has been equally emphatic on the record that that two-state solution should be brought about through direct negotiations through the parties, not for unilateral recognition.”
Sullivan had been asked if the United States was concerned that other nations might follow suit in recognising a Palestinian State. He said the US would communicate its consistent position to partners “see what unfolds”.
War in Gaza
Decades of US efforts have failed to achieve a “two-state solution” with Israel living alongside a Palestinian State encompassing the West Bank, ruled by the Palestinian Authority (PA), and Gaza, ruled by the Hamas Movement since it won legislative elections in a landslide victory in the coastal Strip in 2006.
Israel began an offensive in Gaza after Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel on 7 October, killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.
More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since then, health officials in the enclave say.
Israel is now attacking Rafah in southern Gaza, saying it wants to root out Hamas fighters. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled Rafah since the start of the assault, and the main access routes for aid into Gaza have been blocked.
Sullivan said he was briefed on Israeli plans to minimise civilian harm in Rafah during a weekend visit to the region, and Washington will track whether the assault causes widespread death and destruction or is more precise and proportional.
“We now have to see what unfolds from here,” he said.
He said aid was flowing in from a pier in Gaza, and that it was wrong for Israel to withhold funds from the West Bank.
The Biden administration also hopes to broker an arrangement leading Saudi Arabia and Israel to normalise relations. As part of that process, Saudi Arabia has demanded the Gaza conflict end and a path to a Palestinian State, something Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, would be likely to find hard to accept.
