In a calm but cautious tone, the Palestinian Authority's limited comments came about the victory of US Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden over his Republican rival, President Donald Trump, even though Palestinian social media pioneers seemed more daring in expressing their joy in defeating Trump.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas congratulated Biden today on his victory as President of the United States for the coming term, and his elected Vice President Kamala Harris.

The official Wafa news agency said that Abbas expressed his aspiration to work with Biden and his administration to "strengthen Palestinian-American relations, and achieve freedom, independence, justice and dignity for the Palestinian people, as well as to work for peace, stability and security for all in the region and the world."

After congratulating President Abbas, Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh said in a tweet on his Twitter account, "We look forward to working on a serious political path based on international legitimacy and the two-state solution."

Shtayyeh expressed hope that the Palestinian file would be on the agenda of the Trump administration’s priorities. The Palestinian official added that “President Mahmoud Abbas is the best partner for any political path that may reach a solution,” and that the Palestinian leadership is looking forward to relations with the United States "without linking that to Israel."

Prudence is required

Many Palestinian leaders from the Central Committee of the National Liberation Movement (Fatah) and the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization preferred not to comment on Biden's victory, and some of them told Al-Jazeera Net that "carefulness is required at this stage."

Despite this, Azzam Al-Ahmad, a member of the Fatah Central Committee, said in a brief statement to "Voice of Palestine" radio Sunday morning, "We were patient and persevered, and we endured 3 consecutive years of suffering as a result of Trump's stupid policy."

Al-Barghouti: We should not bet on the new US President Biden, because he has not shown a serious attitude towards Israel's practices (Al-Jazeera)

The Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative, Mustafa Barghouti, warned against “betting on the new president, Joe Biden,” because, as he said, “he did not show a serious attitude towards the system of apartheid, discrimination and settlement that Israel is doing. On the contrary, he declared that he has no intention of removing the American embassy from Jerusalem. This is unacceptable to the Palestinians. "

And because Biden also did not express a position towards the Israeli settlements on Palestinian lands, Barghouti said in a statement to Al Jazeera, "The Palestinians should not bet on Biden, or on returning to bilateral negotiations that will transform the immediate annexation project into a gradual annexation, through settler colonialism, and dragging the Palestinians into A peace process that does not end and becomes an alternative to achieving peace. "

The Secretary-General of the National Initiative said that the strategic orientation towards US policy should not change with regard to the Palestinians, because Trump's departure does not mean going "the deal of the century" (the American plan for peace in the Middle East), because it was originally an Israeli project that Trump adopted, and Netanyahu immediately began trying to pass The deal is through the new US administration.

In Barghouti’s opinion, the Palestinian leadership’s gamble should be on the Palestinian people, changing the balance of power on the ground through immediate national unity, popular resistance, support for the international boycott of Israel movement, strengthening the steadfastness of the Palestinians on their land, and building an alternative national strategy to the approach based on negotiations with US mediation since The Oslo agreement "which failed miserably," he said.

Al-Barghouthi expected that the Biden administration would reopen the PLO office in Washington, which Trump closed two years ago, in addition to resuming US financial aid to the Authority, which Washington suspended months ago.

Infographic |

Trump and Biden ... support (Israel) a common denominator pic.twitter.com/RuaHJQLbMM

- Palestine Online (@ pl24online) November 2, 2020

Humanitarian and political

Ayman Youssef, professor of international relations at the American University in Jenin, says that the Palestinian demands after Biden's election should not focus on the financial and humanitarian character, such as resuming US aid, restoring US funding to UNRWA, and reopening the PLO office in Washington.

Youssef stresses that the demands of the Palestinian side must focus on the political track, and to discuss mechanisms to reach the "two-state solution" that Joe Biden adopted in his election campaign, and to apply it to the establishment of a Palestinian state on all the territories occupied in 1967, as well as the basic non-transferable rights such as the establishment of the Palestinian state. And its capital, Jerusalem, and the application of the right of return, and sovereignty over water and borders.

According to the opinion of the Palestinian academic, "The Palestinians have once again plunged into marathon negotiations with Israel, even with the presence of other international players besides the United States. These (negotiations) will be a waste of time, if they are without a time frame, nor international legal guarantees that guarantee the basic rights of the Palestinians." ".

Yousef called on the Palestinian leadership to "not rush towards the new American administration and its proposals, because Israel imposes settlement facts on the ground, and it has supportive voices in the United States."

Fate of reconciliation

The head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, had warned in a statement yesterday, Saturday, against "falling again into the trap of political illusion related to negotiations and settlement," and stressed the need to complete reconciliation, prepare for elections, form a Palestinian national council and rebuild the institutions of the PLO.

However, Yusef believes that what unified the Palestinians in the last year is not a self-determination, but rather Trump's policy, the transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem, the Israeli annexation plans, and the normalization of Arab countries with Israel.

The Palestinian academic added that the Palestinian leadership’s openness to the new US administration and the return to negotiations with the occupation "will pose an inevitable danger to the Palestinian reconciliation, which has reached the point of consensus on holding legislative and presidential elections."