Middle East
Biden insists on two-state solution – threat against settlers
US President Joe Biden: “Even if it seems at the moment as if this future has never been further away, the crisis has made it more urgent than ever.” photo
© Doug Mills/Pool The New York Times/AP/dpa
US President Biden has been trying to walk a tightrope for weeks: supporting Israel while not ignoring the humanitarian issue in Gaza. Now he is looking to the time after the war.
He emphasized that he had strongly advocated with the Israeli leadership that those who perpetrated this violence must be held accountable. “The United States stands ready to take its own actions, including imposing travel bans on extremists attacking civilians in the West Bank,” he warned. The Democrat explicitly did not use the word settler.
In the long article, Biden recorded what he believes the future in the region should look like – and how the path there should be shaped. “This much is clear: a two-state solution is the only way to ensure the long-term security of both the Israeli and Palestinian people,” Biden wrote. “While it may seem at the moment that this future has never been further away, the crisis has made it more urgent than ever.”
Biden: No violent expulsion of Palestinians
Biden emphasized that the Palestinian people deserve their own state and a future free from the Islamist Hamas. “The images from the Gaza Strip and the deaths of thousands of civilians, including children, also break my heart.” Now the goal must be to end the war forever and break the cycle of violence. “Something stronger” needs to be built in the Middle East so that history doesn’t keep repeating itself. The Gaza Strip must “never again be used as a platform for terrorism,” said Biden.
But the Democrat also made it clear again: “There must be no violent expulsion of the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, no reoccupation, no siege or blockade and no reduction in the size of the area.” After this war ends, the voices of the Palestinian people must be heard. Therefore, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank should be reunited under a “unified governance structure” under a revived Palestinian Authority. At the same time, we should work towards a two-state solution.
The 80-year-old also wrote that the USA continues to stand behind Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia. “Both (Kremlin leader Vladimir) Putin and Hamas are fighting to wipe a neighboring democracy off the map.” America cannot and will not allow this. “The world looks to us to solve the problems of our time. That is the job of leadership, and America will do it.”