Loop and West Bank “should”reunify“under a Palestinian Authority “reinforced,” considered US President Joe Biden in an opinion column published this Saturday, in the midst of the war between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist movement that governs the Gaza Strip.
“As we fight for peace, Gaza and the West Bank should be reunited under a single government structureultimately under a Strengthened Palestinian Authorityas we all work toward a two-state solution,” Biden wrote in The Washington Post, referring to the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
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Washington, Israel’s main ally, has given its full support to the country’s response to the attack carried out on its territory on October 7 by Hamas commandos, which left 1,200 dead, mostly civilians. In addition, some 240 people were taken hostage.
But as the death toll from the rIsraeli bombing attack and ground incursions (to 12,300, including more than 5,000 children, according to the Hamas government), the United States has expressed its worry and has raised questions about the future of Gaza once Hamas is defeated.
“A two-state solution is the only way to ensure the long-term security of both the Israeli and Palestinian people. Although right now it may seem like that future has never been further away, this crisis has made it more imperative than ever.” Biden wrote.
“Gaza responsibility”
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahudid not reject Biden’s plan, but responded in a press conference that the Palestinian Authority “in its current form is not capable of receiving responsibility for Gaza.”
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbashas not condemned the Hamas attack and its top ministers celebrate it, Netanyahu said.
“We cannot have a civil authority in Gaza that supports terror, encourages terror, pays for terror and teaches terror,” he said.
Abbas, for his part, called on Biden to use his “important influence” about Israel “to intervene immediately to stop this humanitarian catastrophethis genocide against our innocent people.”
In early November, the Palestinian president linked the return of the Palestinian Authority to the Gaza Strip to a “political agreement“which would also cover the West Bank occupied and East Jerusalem.
“The Gaza Strip “It is an integral part of the State of Palestine, and we will fully assume our responsibilities within the framework of a global political solution,” he said when receiving the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, in Ramallah.
The US president also threatened in his opinion column with sanctions against settlers who commit acts of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Tension is also high in that territory occupied by Israel since 1967, where some 200 Palestinians have died at the hands of Israeli settlers and soldiers since October 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
“I have been emphatic with Israel’s leaders that the extremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank must stop and those who commit violence must be held accountable,” Biden said.
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“The United States is prepared to take our own measures, including issuing visa bans against extremists who attack civilians in West Bank“, complete.