Biden announced $316M in financial aids for the Palestinians
Newslooks- BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP)
President Joe Biden announced during a joint appearance in Bethlehem with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas $316 million in financial assistance for the Palestinians during his visit, there’s no clear path to getting peace talks back on track.
President Joe Biden acknowledged Friday that an independent state for Palestinians “can seem so far away” as he confronted hopelessness about the stagnant peace process during a visit to the West Bank.
“The Palestinian people are hurting now,” he said. “You can just feel it. Your grief and frustration. In the United States, we can feel it.”.
“Even if the ground is not ripe at this moment to restart negotiations, the United States and my administration will not give up on bringing the Palestinians and the Israelis, both sides, closer together,” he said.
President Joe Biden says he remains supportive of an independent Palestinian state but says the “ground is not ripe” for restarting peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
Biden delivered the assessment at a news conference with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in the occupied West Bank.
The comments were likely to disappoint the Palestinians, who are looking to the U.S. to press Israel into restarting peace talks. The last substantive talks collapsed over a decade ago.
Biden said the world “cannot wait” for a peace agreement and said that steps need to be taken to improve the lives of Palestinian people.
Abbas said “the key to peace” in the region “begins with ending the Israeli occupation of our land.”
President Joe Biden is visiting the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, believed by Christians to be the birthplace of Jesus.
Biden, a devout Roman Catholic, stopped by the church Friday after meeting with Palestinian leaders in the ancient West Bank city. He shook hands with local officials before entering the historic basilica, held sacred by Christians of all denominations.
The White House said Biden’s visit was to “underscore support for Christians who face challenges across the region.”
Inside, he was to meet with church patriarchs and receive a tour of its mosaics and architecture.
The visit is Biden’s last stop on his three-day trip to Israel and the occupied West Bank before he flies to Saudi Arabia to meet with the kingdom’s leaders and Gulf allies.
