The administration of US President Joe Biden, in its annual human rights report released on Tuesday, refrained from explicitly describing the West Bank as "occupied land" by Israel.

With this step, the new administration will follow the example of the administration of former President Donald Trump, which abandoned this description in its previous reports.

In response to a question about the reason that prompted the ministry not to return to the formula that was approved before 2018, Lisa Peterson, a human rights official at the State Department, explained that American diplomats preferred to adhere to geographical parameters only.

"This is in line with our general practices. We also believe it is clearer and more useful for readers seeking information on human rights in these areas," she told reporters.

A general view of Ariel, the largest settlement in the West Bank (Al-Jazeera)

Terms and readings

Until Trump assumed power in 2017, the US State Department, in its annual report on the human rights situation in the world, devoted a chapter to "Israel and the Occupied Territories," but this title changed in 2018 to "Israel and the West Bank and Gaza," which is the same phrase that It was received in the report issued the day before.

In 2018, the majority of observers read the semantic change as an indication of the Republic's desire to align with Israel, a matter that was soon confirmed by Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and then of Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, as well as his decision not to consider Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank in violation of the law. International.

From here, observers' eyes focused this year on whether this first report in the Biden era - which covers the year 2020 - has returned to the previous wording or kept the formulation of the Trump administration.

Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel (French)

The two-state solution

In fact, the new US president is defending the two-state solution and has tried to partially distance himself from his predecessor's policies on the Middle East conflict.

But the US State Department made sure in its Tuesday report to include a paragraph explaining that the words used to describe Israel and the Palestinian territories “do not reflect a position on any of the final status issues that will be negotiated by the parties to the conflict, especially the boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem or the borders between Israel. And a future Palestinian state. "

She added that "this part of the report covers Israel" and "also the Golan Heights and the lands of East Jerusalem that Israel occupied during the June 1967 war."

The report stated that "the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in 2017 and Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights in 2019".