Analysts: Biden's talk about the two-state solution is "political deception" that should not be dealt with

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US President Joe Biden does not seem truly determined to move forward towards establishing an independent Palestinian state, as he recently stated. Rather, he is trying to achieve internal electoral goals and drag more Arab countries towards normalization with Israel without stopping the crimes it is committing in Gaza, according to what experts say.

Biden recently confirmed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not oppose the two-state solution, adding that there are patterns for this state, which Netanyahu immediately denied.

This quick denial by Netanyahu of his acceptance of the two-state solution was considered by observers and analysts, including the Secretary-General of the Palestinian Initiative, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, as a clear insult to Washington, which Netanyahu said in a recent leak that he could drag it in any direction he wanted.

Selling illusions

Also, Biden’s statements about a Palestinian state with patterns whose nature he did not specify are nothing more than selling illusions to the Palestinians, the Arabs and the entire world, according to what Barghouti said during his participation in the program “Gaza... What Next?”

Given Netanyahu's political history, which is primarily based on preventing the establishment of any independent Palestinian state, and his recent statements in which he said that Israel will not abandon everything west of the Jordan River (the West Bank), and his previous talk about being the best prime minister who can prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, Biden’s speech “becomes just political hypocrisy that should not be dealt with by either the Palestinians or the Arabs,” in Barghouti’s opinion.

In addition, Biden - speaking to Barghouti - did not specify what type of state he was talking about, which may be merely camps without sovereignty and without borders under an occupation that practices apartheid against it.

Most important of all, in the opinion of the Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative;

It is that Biden "did not talk about stopping the war, stopping settlement, or ending the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, which means that he is trying to please some voters who are angry with him, and provide a fig leaf for the Arab countries that are normalized with Israel or that want normalization with it."

All of Israel rejects the two-state solution

Regarding Netanyahu’s intention to deny Biden’s statement, the senior researcher at the Al Jazeera Center for Political Studies, Dr. Liqaa Makki, said that the Israeli Prime Minister “is governed by his electoral authority and his alliance that led him to power because it is his last refuge that prevents him from going to prison.”

Netanyahu's rejection of the idea of ​​an independent Palestinian state is not out of the line with what all Israeli politicians from all factions - including the opposition - have said, which completely reject the idea of ​​a two-state solution, according to Makki, who believes that this rejection puts the United States in a dilemma.

Therefore, Makki adds, the Biden administration “has no choice but to try to get rid of Netanyahu, but at the same time it faces the dilemma that this matter is in the hands of the Knesset alone.”

In view of the above, “America’s talk about a two-state solution - completely rejected by Israel - stems from internal electoral goals on the one hand, and from Biden’s desire to attract Arab countries to normalization on the other hand,” says Makki.

In the same context, international and European affairs analyst Hossam Shaker says, “There is a front being heated inside Israel against the term Palestinian state, which is completely rejected.”

In Shaker’s opinion, Biden’s talk about an independent state “is nothing more than an attempt to renew the Oslo promise under another false cover to achieve goals that are in Israel’s interest, foremost of which is restructuring the Palestinian Authority to be more oppressive on the one hand, and to please some Arab countries on the other hand.”

But these American statements, which contradict the clear and declared Israeli position, “mean that something is up to Washington, which may be a new form of the deal of the century that former US President Donald Trump spoke about,” from Shaker’s point of view.

In addition, Israel - as Makki says - "faces a chronic security problem that pushes it to expand geographically by annexing the West Bank and Gaza, and to expand geopolitically from the sea to the river, as Netanyahu previously announced."

Hence, the United States is fully aware that this position completely contradicts the idea of ​​establishing a Palestinian state.

Even if it were disarmed, according to Makki, who stressed that “Netanyahu continues to extremize towards the right, which ends any talk inside Israel about establishing a state for the Palestinians.”

However, this clarity in goals is beneficial for the Palestinians - in Makki’s opinion - “because gray situations do not make the Palestinians able to determine what is happening around them and enter them into the maze of misleading analyses.”

Makki concluded that "the weakness of the Arab regime, some of whose countries began paying Tel Aviv in exchange for normalization with it, prompted Israel to reject the idea of ​​peace, even in exchange for peace."

On the other hand, Barghouti believes that Biden’s statements about the Palestinian state or the day after the war, in addition to his electoral motives;

It is "an attempt to draw the world's attention to the crime committed by Israel against civilians in Gaza."

Barghouti based his speech on the fact that “the entire Zionist system, including War Council member Benny Gantz and opposition leader Yair Lapid, rejects the idea of ​​establishing an independent Palestinian state,” adding that the essence of the Israeli move during the last decade is that it is “a fascist state that will not accept compromise solutions, nor a state.” Palestinian".

This trend can be seen in the settlers’ control of 60% of Area C in the West Bank, where they are currently practicing ethnic “cleansing,” even though it is part of the Oslo Accords, according to Barghouti.

Regarding the criticism that some members of the US Congress began to express toward Netanyahu’s behavior, Shaker said that it reflects their annoyance at his failure to achieve any of his military goals, and “we may find more such statements in the future,” adding: “If Israel had achieved its goals, the tone would have been completely different.” ".

Shaker said that Washington is stuck in the current crisis because it granted Netanyahu full legitimacy in his war on Gaza, and even participated in its management, stressing that it is “capable of stopping it.”

Source: Al Jazeera