President Joe Biden, a self-described Zionist, is frequently quoted by his senior aides as suggesting that if there was no Israel, the United States would have to establish one.
Therefore, Palestinian rights activists and Arab-American voters who supported Biden did not have high hopes for the US policy towards Israel under his leadership when he won the presidency.Nevertheless, many had hoped that the president would at least partially undo some of the actions taken by his predecessor Donald Trump that had furthered the US's alliance with Israel, given the Biden campaign's promises and an early commitment to pursuing a foreign policy that would center on human rights.
Rights activists, however, claim that the Democratic president has so far fallen short of keeping his modest pledges to Palestinians, with the US attitude remaining more similar to that of Donald Trump than that of Barack Obama
Al Jazeera examines which Trump policies Biden amended and which ones he maintained in place as the vice president prepares to visit Israel for the first time in his presidency:American consulate in Jerusalem
Trump's decision to relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was possibly the most significant of all his policy changes in support of Israel. The 2018 action effectively endorsed Israel's claims to the entire holy city as its capital by the US.After seizing it in 1967, Israel had illegally annexed East Jerusalem by 1980.
Politicians from both major parties in Washington applauded the decision despite the protests of the Palestinian people and the United Nations' unanimous declaration that it was "null and illegitimate."
Before moving the embassy, Trump proclaimed Jerusalem "off the table" to a muted Arab response.
Biden never gave moving the embassy back to Jerusalem much thought. While employing unclear terminology to define how it regards East Jerusalem, the US has treated Jerusalem as Israel's capital during his presidency.East Jerusalem, for instance, is covered in the section on Israel in the yearly nation report on human rights from the US Department of State. The report does, however, add the following disclaimer: "Language in this report is not meant to convey a position on any final status issues to be negotiated between the parties to the conflict, including the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem or the borders between Israel and any future Palestinian state."Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem
In 2019, Trump closed the Jerusalem consulate for Palestinian issues and merged its operations with the Israeli embassy there.The action signaled a US rejection of the Palestinians' claims to Jerusalem and terminated ties with the Palestinians.
More than a year and a half into his presidency, Biden has not followed through on his campaign vow to reopen the embassy.
Biden and his top aides have been unwilling to publicly disagree with Israel, which opposes reopening the consulate, even though US officials claim they are still committed to reestablishing the diplomatic post.
In a platform for 2020 Arab American voters, Biden's campaign stated, "As President, Biden will take immediate steps to restore economic and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people, consistent with US law, including assistance to refugees, work to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, reopen the US consulate in East Jerusalem, and work to reopen the PLO mission in Washington."Because of internal pressure from both parties, the Palestinian Liberation Organization's presence in Washington, which was shut down by Trump in 2018, has not been reopened under Biden.Settlements
Biden vowed as a candidate to be against annexation and settlement growth. Additionally, the Biden administration has periodically openly criticized the approval of new settlements in the occupied West Bank, in contrast to Trump, who has never publicly criticized Israeli activities.However, such misguided criticism frequently takes the form of ambiguous statements that compare the conduct of Israel and the Palestinians and claim that the US opposed any further escalation on either side.
When Israel revealed a significant settlement construction plan in October of last year, US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price was direct in his criticism of Israel.
At the time, Price stated, "We vehemently oppose the growth of settlements, which is absolutely incongruous with attempts to lessen tensions and to preserve calm.
But that blunt language soon vanished.
Price responded, "We have consistently spoken to both sides to encourage them not to take steps that would exacerbate tensions in that – in the case of something like this would put a two-state solution further out of reach" when asked whether the US has put pressure on Israel to halt a settlement project that would divide Palestinian communities in the West Bank from East Jerusalem.
The administration continues to make exceptions to legitimize Israeli crimes against Palestinians, according to Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute (AAI), a Washington-based think group.But frequently, such mistaken criticism comes in the shape of vague statements that contrast the actions of Israel and the Palestinians while asserting that the US opposed any further escalation on either side.
US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price was blunt in his criticism of Israel after it disclosed a large settlement construction plan in October of last year.
Price declared at the time, "We strenuously oppose the rise of settlements, which is totally inconsistent with efforts to reduce tensions and maintain peace.
But that directness quickly disappeared.
When asked if the US had put pressure on Israel to halt a settlement project that would divide Palestinian communities in the West Bank from East Jerusalem, Price replied, "We have consistently spoken to both sides to encourage them not to take steps that would exacerbate tensions in that – in the case of something like this would put a two-state solution further out of reach."
Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute (AAI), a Washington-based think tank, claims that the administration continues to establish exceptions to justify Israeli crimes against Palestinians.In reference to Biden's stance on the war, she claimed that "it has been the continuation of a politicized approach."
"They're making an Israel exemption, whether it's the Biden administration or individual members of Congress. No other nation will be permitted to act in the same manner as Israel without suffering the same political implications on the international stage. And the United States is the main guardian in that regard.Help for Israel
Despite mounting calls to condition or limit US aid to Israel, Biden has actually raised US assistance to the country under the administrations of Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
US aid to Israel totals $3.8 billion every year, and this year it received an additional $1 billion to "replenish the Iron Dome" missile defense system following the Gaza War in May 2021.
Last week, Biden boasted about approving "the greatest support package for Israel" in history in an editorial for the Washington Post.
Help for the Palestinians
Biden has restored some of the aid that was essentially discontinued by Trump, who also stopped paying the UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.According to Biden, since taking office in 2021, his administration has reinstated $500 million in help to the Palestinians, including money for UNRWA, which received about $350 million yearly under the Obama administration.
Normalisation
The Abraham Accords, a campaign for normalization between Israel and Arab nations that was launched under Trump, have the full support of the Biden administration.
Normalization between Arabs and Israelis, according to the State Department, is insufficient to bring about Israel and Palestinian peace. However, according to observers, Biden has been promoting the same Trump-era normalization that ignores Palestinians.
In fact, Biden frequently cited normalization as the justification for his tour to the Middle East before going there.
"Deepening Israel's integration into the area is one of the goals of the trip to the Middle East, which I believe we will be able to accomplish and which will be beneficial for both world peace and Israeli security. And for that reason, Israeli authorities have backed my trip to Saudi Arabia so firmly," Biden stated late last month.
Heights of Golan
Many international law scholars cautioned that Trump's recognition of Israeli sovereignty over Syria's occupied Golan Heights would violate the rule against acquiring land via force.Although Biden supports the idea of territorial integrity in Ukraine, his administration has upheld the Golan Heights' position as Israel's territory.
Even though US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has in the past used vague terminology to describe Syrian land, no shift in US policy has ever been stated since Biden took office.
Last year, the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs of the Department of State issued a statement on Twitter stating that "US policy regarding the Golan has not changed" and that any rumors to the contrary were untrue.Palestinian connections
The Biden administration has been working to rebuild US ties with the Palestinian leadership while Trump had all but snubbed Palestinians in his agenda for the area.
Senior US and Palestinian leaders have spoken on the phone multiple times, including Vice President Joe Biden and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The US government declared last month that the Palestinian affairs section of the US embassy in Jerusalem would begin directly reporting to the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs under the US Department of State "on substantive matters."The Palestinian Affairs Unit (PAU) changed its name to the US Office of Palestinian Affairs as part of the diplomatic upgrade (OPA).
Experts, however, criticized the action as largely cosmetic and emphasized that it is not a sufficient replacement for the campaign to establish a real consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem.
Khalil Jahshan, executive director of the Arab Center Washington DC, told Al Jazeera at the time, "Under the current circumstances, I'm very comfortable stating to you that simply this is a PR attempt to try to placate frustration on the Palestinian side, particularly in light of the upcoming visit by the president to the region.
The administration has nonetheless taken credit for what it claims to be improving ties with the Palestinian Authority
"To sustain the peace without allowing terrorists to rearm, we have cooperated with Israel, Egypt, Qatar, and Jordan. In the Washington Post, Biden stated that "we also restored US connections with the Palestinians."organizations operating globally
Biden has reestablished relationships with a number of UN and international organizations, including the Human Rights Council, that Trump had left because of their criticism of Israel.However, US officials have consistently emphasized that they are attending these forums to defend Israel from within, not to support initiatives to promote Palestinians' human rights.
The State Department criticized a Human Rights Council committee of investigation last month after it published a report in which it claimed that Israel was seeking long-term dominance over the Palestinians and had "no intention of ending the occupation."
The committee of inquiry "represents a one-sided, biased approach that does nothing to promote the prospects for peace," Price claimed in a statement on June 7.
In a similar vein, the Biden administration reversed penalties that Trump had placed on ICC officials while continuing to oppose ICC inquiries into Israeli misdeeds.
The State Department has stated repeatedly over the past few weeks that the ICC is not the "proper venue" to look into the death of Shireen Abu Akleh, an Al Jazeera journalist who was tragically shot by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank in May.
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