JERUSALEM (Washington Insider Magazine) – President Joe Biden will reach Israel on Wednesday for his first tour to the Middle East as president with the intention of expressing support for that country despite low hopes that his trip will result in any significant reduction in the escalating hostilities between Israelis and Palestinians.
There seem to be no clear indications from Biden administration authorities that there are intentions to do anything other than reiterate Biden’s support for a 2-state solution, in contrast to how most presidents have focused their trips to Israel on attempting to contribute to a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
Instead, a large portion of the attention leading up to the visit has been on fostering better ties between Israel and its Arab neighbors as part of Biden’s broader initiatives to promote regional stability and confront Iran’s rising nuclear threat. Biden will proceed to Saudi Arabia, where government officials have said there could be some early moves towards officially repairing ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, after spending 2 days in Israel and visiting the West Bank.
Foreign policy experts have predicted that one topic up for discussion would be enabling Israeli Muslims to go directly to Saudi Arabia for the hajj pilgrimage and easing other aviation restrictions on Israeli aircraft over the nation.
Just a few weeks had passed since the Israeli government underwent a significant shakeup that resulted in the resignation of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and the calling of a fifth Israeli election in less than 4 years, which took place in November. Biden will have a discussion with interim Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid rather than Bennett, with whom government officials had already been coordinating closely over the past year.
According to Dan Shapiro, a former American envoy to Israel under the Obama administration who is currently a fellow at the Atlantic Council, the uncertainty surrounding who will be in charge of Israel come November has made it more challenging for Biden to advance any peace negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
Making a trip to Israel at this juncture in his presidency sends a message to that country and its followers that it remains a primary focus and avoids a point of scrutiny made by President Barack Obama who decided to wait until the beginning of his second term to visit Israel. The Middle East has generally taken a backseat to Russia and China on Biden’s foreign policy agenda.
As it is typical for visiting presidents to also meet with the leader of the Israeli opposition party, Biden also plans to meet with former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Isaac Herzog, according to White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan.
In addition to discussions with Israeli officials, Biden will also visit Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust monument, and receive briefings on the Iron Beam new laser-enabled system and the Iron Dome missile defence system, according to NBC NEWS. Along with the presidents of Israel, India, and the United Arab Emirates, he will convene a virtual conference to discuss food shortages brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Expectations for tangible outcomes from Biden’s Friday travel to the West Bank for a discussion with Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, are low.
Palestinian officials have been pressuring the Biden administration to address the larger issue of the Palestinian demand for an independent nation with a capital in East Jerusalem, as well as to reopen the U.S. diplomatic mission in East Jerusalem and to speak out more strongly against Israeli habitation in the West Bank.
The killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, for which human rights and journalist advocacy organizations have urged Biden to hold Israel culpable, will also hang over his meeting with leaders in Israel and the West Bank. Earlier this month, the United States came to the conclusion that Abu Akleh was most probably slain by gunshots from Israeli armed forces positions; however, U.S. investigators said they were unable to make a conclusive determination about the source of the bullet that killed her, according to the State Department.
She was killed by Israeli fire, according to investigations by the UN and neutral Western media outlets.
