Palestinian Authority Restores Ties with US Administration
Arab World
Ramallah - Kifah Zboun
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has officially resumed contacts with the new US administration, said Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh. The PA had cut relations with former US President Donald Trump’s administration for more than two years due to its recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the punitive steps against Palestinians. Shtayyeh confirmed he contacted US President Joe Biden’s administration through Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr. During a weekly cabinet meeting in Ramallah, Shtayyeh said they discussed means to restore Palestinian-US relations, especially the reopening of the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s office in Washington and renewing US financial aid to the PA and the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Contact between the PA and new US administration has been expected in light of previous indirect communication through mediators. The PA is hoping that the Biden administration would rectify the soured relations and advance a new peace process in the region. Shtayyeh and Amr discussed President Mahmoud Abbas’s willingness to launch a new political process based on the international resolutions and under the umbrella of the international quartet (the European Union, United Nations, Russia and United States). Jordan and Egypt are supposed to join the international quartet, in an attempt to push for new negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis. Last week, Acting US Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Mills told a high-level Security Council meeting that his country hoped to start building confidence on both sides to create an environment to reach a two-state solution. “The United States will urge Israel’s government and the Palestinians to avoid unilateral steps that make a two-state solution more difficult, such as annexation of territory, settlement activity, demolitions, incitement to violence and providing compensation for individuals in prison for acts of terrorism,” he said. Mills said peace couldn’t be imposed on either side and stressed that progress and an ultimate solution required the participation and agreement of Israelis and Palestinians. He said Biden intends to “restore US assistance programs that support economic development programs and humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people and to take steps to reopen diplomatic relations that were closed by the last US administration.”
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2780471/palestinian-authority-restores-ties-us-administration
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