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Joe Biden’s Statement Before Mahmoud Abbas

President Joe Biden’s Statement

Before President Mahmoud Abbas

Bethlehem, 15 July 2022

Mr. President, President Abbas, thank you very much and to your colleagues with whom I had the opportunity to meet as well.

And it’s good to see you again, my friend. We’ve known each other for a long time. And I’m very proud to be with you today as President of the United States. And I can — we can count ourselves among the earliest supporters of a two-state solution.

As I stand with you today, now as President of the United States, my commitment to that goal of a two-state solution has not changed in all these years.

Two states along the 1967 lines, where mutually agreed-to swaps, remain the best way to achieve equal measure of security, prosperity, freedom, and democracy for the Palestinians as well as Israelis.

The Palestinian people deserve a state of their own that’s independent, sovereign, viable, and contiguous. Two states for two peoples, both of whom have deep and ancient roots in this land, living side by side in peace and security. Both states fully respecting the equal rights of the other citizens. Both peoples enjoying equal measure of freedom and dignity. That’s what this is fundamentally all about.

Every person has a right to be treated with dignity. It’s simply basic. I know that the goal of the two states seems so far away while indignities like restrictions on movement and travel or the daily worry of your children’s safety are real and they are immediate.

The Pales- — the Palestinian people are hurting now. You feel — you can just feel it, your grief and frustration. In the United States, we can feel it.

But we’ve never give up on the work of peace. You know, there must be a political horizon that the Palestinian people can actually see or at least feel. We can’t allow the hopelessness to steal away the future that so many have worked toward for so long.

So even if the ground is not ripe at this moment to restart negotiations, the United States and my administration will not give up on trying to bring the Palestinians and Israelis and both sides closer together.

I do believe that in this moment when Israel is improving relations with its neighbors throughout the region, we can harness that same momentum to reinvigorate the peace process between the Palestinian people and the Israelis.

I recognize how hard all these challenges must be and will be to work through. Above all, there must be an end to the violence that has devastated too many families.

It’s heart-wrenching that so many Palestinians and Israelis have lost their life just this year. And the United States has suffered loss as well, including the killing of Shireen Abu Alkeh — Alkehli [Akleh].

And she was an American — an American citizen and a proud Palestinian. And she was performing very vital work on an independent media and vital work of democracy.

Her death is an enormous loss to the essential work of sharing with the world the story of the Palestinian people.

I hope that her legacy — her legacy will inspire more young people to carry on her work of reporting the truth and telling stories that are too often overlooked.

The United States will continue to insist on a full and transparent accounting of her death, and we will continue to stand up for media freedom everywhere in the world.

President Abbas, in the past, we met in Ramallah, but today, in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, a place of enormous significance in my faith as well — the birthplace of Jesus Christ.

This is the city that lives in the hearts of millions of Christians and is a reminder of God’s great gift to the world and our renewed and redemption in Christ.

Muslim and Jews also have an intense and deep connection to this land, particularly in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is central to the national visions of both Palestinians and Israelis — to your histories, to your faiths, to your futures.

Jerusalem must be a city for all its people — its holy sites preserving the status quo, with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan continuing to serve as custodian.

And throughout this Holy Land, which is filled with so many places of meaning and significance to Muslims, Christians, and Jews, we must all be free to practice our faiths in peace, in safety, and in dignity.

We cannot wait for a peace agreement to be reached or for every issue to be resolved to deliver on the needs of the Palestinian people that exist today, as I speak.

The best way to feed the flame of hope is to demonstrate that things can be better. And, President Abbas, the United States is a partner in this work to improve the day-to-day lives of the Palestinian people.

That’s why, when I came to office, I reserved the policy — I reversed the policies of my predecessor and resumed aid to the Palestinians — more than a half a billion dollars in [since] 2021.

That’s support for the economic development of the Palestinian people, to strengthen Palestinian security, to provide food for people to eat, to respond to the pandemic, including donating more than one million doses of COVID-19 [vaccine] to the West Bank and Gaza.

It also includes more than $400 million in humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees through the United [Nations] Relief and Works Agency — the UNRWA.

And today, I’m announcing the United States is going to provide an additional $200 million to the UNRWA so it can continue its vital work of helping the most vulnerable Palestinians, especially Palestinian children.

Earlier this month, and I — we decided — and this morning, I announced an additional $100 million in support of healthcare services for Palestinians throughout East Jerusalem Hospital Network.

We were — we were engaging with Israel around ways to spur greater Palestinian economic growth, including by implementing 4G mobile networks, increasing the supply of renewable energy, improving freedom of movement for Palestinians, both people and goods.

These are the kinds of issues that progress can make life better for people right away, and we should be about it right away.

And the Palestinian Authority has important work to do as well, if you don’t mind my saying.

Now is the time to strengthen Palestinian institutions, to improve governance, transparency, and accountability.

All of this work is critical. And it will help build a society that can support a successful, democratic future, and a future Palestinian state. And the United States will work with you, President Abbas, at every step.

So thank you again for welcoming me and my delegation — the Secretary of State, National Security Advisor, and others — to visit with you.

I hope our visit is the start of a new and reinvigorated dialogue between the Palestinian Authority, the United States — and between the Palestinian — countries and counties throughout — and countries throughout the region, including Israel.

So let’s work together to show the people of the region, especially young people — young people — that the future can be better than it is today.

I thank you all very much. And may God protect us all. Thank you, Mr. President.

 

Source: https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022...