US says Palestinian State should come via talks, not unilateral recognition
US President Joe Biden believes a Palestinian state should be established through negotiations rather than unilateral recognition, the White House said on Wednesday. This comes after Ireland, Spain, and Norway said they would recognise the Palestinian state this month, Reuters reports.
Washington’s reaction seems to indicate the United States’ dissatisfaction with the three European countries’ announcement of their intention to move forward with unilateral recognition of the Palestinian state, which does not exist in practice.
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a regular press conference that each country can make its own decision about recognising a Palestinian state. Still, Biden believes direct negotiations between the two parties are the best approach.
President Biden believes that a two-state solution that guarantees Israel’s security and also the future dignity and security of the Palestinian people is the best way to achieve long-term security and stability for everyone in the region,” Sullivan said.
President Biden has…similarly emphasised that a two-state solution must be achieved through direct negotiations through the parties, not through unilateral recognition.
Sullivan was asked whether the United States was concerned that other countries might follow suit in recognising Palestinian statehood. He said that the United States would convey its firm position to partners “to see what happens.”
American efforts have failed over decades to achieve a “two-state solution” in which Israel lives side by side with a Palestinian state that includes the West Bank, ruled by the Palestinian Authority, and Gaza, which Hamas has ruled since it won legislative elections in 2013—landslide victory in the coastal enclave in 2013 2006.
Israel began an attack on Gaza after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
However, it has since been revealed by Haaretz that IDF helicopters and tanks killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians that the Palestinian resistance killed, Israel claims. Health officials in the Strip say more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since then.
Israel is now attacking Rafah in southern Gaza, saying it wants to eradicate Hamas fighters. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled Rafah since the start of the attack, and the main roads delivering aid to Gaza have been closed.
Sullivan said he was briefed on Israeli plans to minimise civilian harm in Rafah during a visit to the area over the weekend, and Washington will track whether the attack causes widespread death and destruction or is more precise and proportionate.
He added: “We now have to see what happens from here.” He said that aid was flowing from a dock 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 that leads Saudi Arabia and Israel to normalise relations. As part of this process, Saudi Arabia has demanded an end to the conflict in Gaza and a path to a Palestinian state, something that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will likely find difficult to accept.
