Mission impossible? Biden says Mideast leaders must consider a two-state solution after the war ends

WASHINGTON – As the 3-week-old Israel-Hamas war enters what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says might be a “long and difficult” new degree, President Joe Biden is looking on Israeli and Arab leaders to suppose exhausting about their eventual postwar truth.

It’s one, he argues, the place in spite of everything discovering settlement on a long-sought two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian war will have to be a precedence.

“There’s no going back to the status quo as it stood on Oct. 6,” Biden instructed newshounds, regarding the day ahead of Hamas militants attacked Israel and prompt the newest war. The White House says Biden conveyed the similar message without delay to Netanyahu all the way through a phone name this previous week.

“It also means that when this crisis is over, there has to be a vision of what comes next, and in our view it has to be a two-state solution,” Biden mentioned.

The push for a two-state solution — one by which Israel would co-exist with an unbiased Palestinian state — has eluded U.S. presidents and Middle East diplomats for many years. It’s been placed on the again burner since the final American-led effort at peace talks collapsed in 2014 amid disagreements on Israeli settlements, the free up of Palestinian prisoners and different problems.

Palestinian statehood is one thing that Biden rarely addressed in the early going of his management. During his seek advice from to the West Bank final yr, Biden mentioned the “ground is not ripe” for brand spanking new makes an attempt to succeed in a everlasting peace whilst he reiterated to Palestinians the long-held U.S. enhance for statehood.

Now, at a second of heightened fear that the Israel-Hamas war may spiral into a broader regional war, Biden has begun to emphasise that when the bombing and capturing forestall, operating towards a Palestinian state will have to not be omitted.

Until just lately, Biden had put way more emphasis on what his management noticed as the achievable ambition of normalizing relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors than on restarting peace talks.

Even his nationwide safety adviser, Jake Sullivan, in a long essay that used to be written in a while ahead of the Oct. 7 assault and described Biden’s world overseas coverage efforts made no point out of Palestinian statehood. In an updated version of the Foreign Affairs essay posted on-line, Sullivan wrote that the management used to be “committed to a two-state solution.” White House official also say the normalization talks have always included significant proposals to benefit the Palestinians.

There is no shortage of obstacles in the way of Biden’s postwar vision. An independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza is viewed as a nonstarter by Israel’s far-right government. An ineffectual Palestinian Authority controls the West Bank and has little credibility with the population it governs. Meantime, a looming U.S. presidential election could make Biden a less-than-ideal mediator in 2024.

Aaron David Miller, who served as an adviser on Middle East issues to Democratic and Republican administrations, said Biden’s recent emphasis on a two-state solution was an “aspirational talking point.”

“The odds are very, very low,” he mentioned. “It’s essentially mission impossible.”

The name for a two-state solution arose Saturday at the Republican Jewish Coalition summit in Las Vegas, the place GOP presidential contenders criticized Biden’s Israel coverage and what they noticed as a failure via Democrats to sufficiently condemn antisemitism throughout the United States. One presidential hopeful, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, mentioned Israel will have to be happy to desert “the myth of a two-state solution.”

The White House is cognizant that Biden’s calls for a two-state solution are ambitious and are perhaps not achievable in the near term, according to a White House official who was not authorized to publicly discuss internal deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity. There is also a recognition that the Netanyahu government, facing public backlash for failing to prevent the Hamas attack, is focused on its operations against Hamas and is not giving much consideration to Biden’s talk of Palestinian statehood.

Still, Biden believes it is important for him and his team to convey “hope” and shed light on that his management backs a Palestinian state, the professional mentioned.

Dennis Ross, a negotiator in the peace process in both the George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations, said it is important to start planning for down the road even though there is no end in sight for the current conflict.

“You can’t go back to the point where you can ignore the Palestinians as an issue,” Ross said. “It’s not hopeless. When you get beyond this, it’s not hopeless.”

The renewed requires Palestinian statehood additionally come as Palestinian American teams, Muslim advocacy organizations and some fellow Democrats have expressed frustration that Biden continues to specific full-throated enhance for Israel at a time when the Palestinian demise rely is mounting and the humanitarian disaster in Gaza worsening.

“This is not about someone’s faith,” mentioned White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby mentioned. “It’s about finding a future for the Middle East that is more cooperative, more stable, more secure, where Israel’s more integrated into the region and we’re not giving up on it.”

Biden has expressed fear about deteriorating prerequisites for blameless civilians in Gaza. But his insistence that he’ll no longer dictate how Israeli forces perform their operations may complicate his skill to deal with credibility as an evenhanded dealer. U.S. Muslim leaders, at a personal White House assembly with Biden and most sensible aides this previous week, instructed the president to name for a cease-fire.

Participants additionally instructed Biden that his silence on what they understand as collective punishment via Israel in opposition to blameless Gaza civilians used to be undercutting his status with Arab Americans and Muslims, together with in states that can have a giant have an effect on on the 2024 election.

They additionally expressed their fear to Biden over his remark that he has “no confidence” in the Gaza demise rely as a result of it’s tabulated the Hamas-run Health Ministry. The ministry says greater than 7,700 folks had been killed in Gaza.

Rami Nashashibi, the founding father of the Inner City Muslim Action Network in Chicago and a player in the assembly, mentioned he instructed Biden that his feedback about the demise toll got here off as “dehumanizing.” Nashashibi added that he and the different members instructed the president that his feedback had been in particular unsettling as a result of Biden, during his time period, has demonstrated profound empathy with struggling folks.

“I raised that with him very directly, and others in the room also did so in a way that I think was heard and acknowledged,” Nashashibi mentioned.

The renewed push for statehood might be pointed to via Biden as a signal of his dedication to Palestinian sovereignty. But his dealing with of the Mideast turmoil is already threatening to be a drag on his reelection potentialities in 2024, and any growth that Biden could make towards a two-state solution is prone to require a 2d time period.

Some Democratic Party officers have grow to be involved his dealing with of the war may dent Biden’s and the celebration’s status with Arab American electorate in addition to a more youthful electorate who polls display have larger sympathy for Palestinian considerations than the celebration’s older and extra centrist electorate.

A senior Michigan Democratic Party professional mentioned Biden’s dealing with of the war has already emerged in the state as a “huge” drawback and may grow to be extra vexing if the war stretches on and the demise toll in Gaza continues to upward push. The professional spoke on situation of anonymity to speak about delicate celebration considerations.

Biden used to be anticipated to stand a tight 2024 race in the state even ahead of the war. He gained Michigan via not up to 3 share issues in 2020, and Republican Donald Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the state via 0.3% in 2016. More than 300,000 people of Middle Eastern or North African ancestry reside in Michigan.

“Even if he’s hurt to the tune of a few points, he’s already got a very close race,” mentioned longtime Michigan pollster Bernie Porn .

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Associated Press author Michelle L. Price in Las Vegas contributed to this document.