Amid the backdrop of the signing of the "Jerusalem Declaration" on Thursday, US President Joe Biden reaffirmed his support for the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians, who can take solace in the fact that at the very least their official position on the solution to the conflict received a mention in the declaration, are otherwise deeply troubled by everything else. The two-state solution clause, meanwhile, which from their perspective should have been atop the agenda, was inserted as more of an afterthought into the declaration.
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A Palestinian official told Israel Hayom that Palestinian Authority leaders were dumbfounded over the name that was given to the memorandum of understandings between Israel and the US.
"Why did they choose to call it the 'Jerusalem Declaration?' There's a problem here; as if Biden is recognizing Jerusalem as the united capital of Israel and isn't recognizing east Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state. This is a grave matter. The second thing is that the declaration itself only mentions American commitment to the idea of two states, without citing a similar commitment from your prime minister, Yair Lapid. This is a central issue," the official said.
He added: "We welcome the American president's position, but if there was any real intent behind his words, they should have worked during this visit on generating agreement on a general road map for implementing the two-state solution."
Other PA officials said the Jerusalem Declaration and its accompaniments sully the mood and atmosphere in Ramallah ahead of Biden's visit Friday. "[PA President Mahmoud Abbas] has made a decision not to publicly criticize Israel and the US, but after the declaration on Thursday, he feels the Israelis stuck a knife in his back. After all of that, what's left to talk about today [Friday]?"
Biden in east Jerusalem
Escorted by his entourage without any Israeli representatives, the US president will visit Augusta Victoria Hospital in east Jerusalem on Friday morning, and convene a joint meeting with the directors of the six Palestinian hospitals in the city. Biden will announce that the US will transfer aid money to support humanitarian and health services, which could contribute significantly to reducing the hospitals' deficits.
Biden will also announce measures to upgrade telecoms networks in Judea and Samaria and Gaza to high speed 4G standards by the end of 2023 and other measures to ease travel between Judea and Samaria and neighboring Jordan.
In addition, there will be a separate $201 million funding package provided through the UN relief agency UNRWA to help Palestinian refugees.
Biden will then travel to Bethlehem, where the PA's security forces are waiting in large numbers to secure the presidential visit. Some 1,500 PA police officers will deploy throughout the city, in addition to other units of the PA security apparatuses, sappers, and emergency medical personnel. Posters of Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed in Jenin on May 11 during a gunfight between IDF soldiers and Palestinian terrorists, have already been placed along Biden's route. Abu Akleh's relatives have accused the United States of providing impunity for Israel over her death and have asked to meet Biden in person during his trip.
Biden is scheduled to meet with Abbas, who arrived in Bethlehem on Thursday, for 45 minutes. The 86-year-old PA leader, who immediately came under pressure to cancel the meeting, will likely ask Biden to press Israel to "stop the escalations and unilateral steps, including construction in the settlements, and settler violence against Palestinians in Judea and Samaria."
In Gaza, meanwhile, armed Palestinian factions denounced the Jerusalem Declaration.
A spokesperson for the Hamas terrorist organization, which controls the coastal enclave, said: "This is further confirmation of America's biased policies in favor of Israel."
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