US president Joe Biden on Friday publicly committed to a two-state solution based on 1967 borders, but admitted “the ground is not ripe at this moment to restart negotiations”.
“The Palestinian people deserve a state of their own that’s independent, sovereign, viable and continuous,” he told Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in his address in Bethlehem in the West Bank. “Two states for two people both of whom have deep and ancient roots in this land.”
Amid a protest from Palestinians over the killing of Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, he promised “the US will continue to insist on a full and transparent accounting of her death”.
Mr Abbas stressed that this may be one of “the last chances” to achieve a two-state solution. “I am extending a hand to the leaders of Israel in order to make peace,” he said, adding that “the path begins with an end to the occupation”.
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Earlier, during a visit to the East Jerusalem Palestinian Augusta Victoria hospital, Mr Biden again alluded to his Irish roots.
“When I was a US senator my colleagues used to joke with me that I was quoting Irish poets. They thought I did it because I was Irish. I did it because they are the best poets of the world,” he said.
He then quoted a familiar line from The Cure at Troy by Seamus Heaney: “The longed-for tidal wave/ Of justice can rise up,/ And hope and history rhyme.”
“It is my prayer that we are reaching one of those moments where hope and history rhyme,” he said.
Mr Biden flew to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after his talks in Bethlehem, where he greeted the country’s de facto ruler, crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, with a fist bump, despite a pledge to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” over the 2018 murder in Turkey of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents.
On Saturday, Mr Biden will participate in a summit of nine Arab states.
Before Mr Biden’s departure from Israel, Riyadh announced it was opening its airspace to all countries, meaning that for the first time Israeli planes will be able to fly to and from Asian destinations and Australia via Saudi airspace, cutting the flying time by hours.
Saudi Arabia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel and has linked establishing ties to progress towards the establishment of a Palestinian state. However, informal ties have developed apace in recent years, particularly in the military and intelligence spheres, aimed at combating Iranian influence in the region.
Israeli prime minister Yair Lapid thanked Riyadh for the decision which, he said, came after a long road of intense and covert diplomacy with Saudi Arabia and the US.
“This is only the first step. We will continue working with necessary caution, for the sake of Israel’s economy, security and the good of our citizens,” he said.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the decision paved the way for “a more integrated, stable, and secure Middle East”.
