Palestinians will gain nothing from Biden’s visit: analysts

Palestinians will gain nothing from US President Joe Biden's visit to the region which will only provide political and security achievements to Israel, political analysts said on Wednesday. 

Earlier on Wednesday, Biden arrived in Israel for the first time since becoming president in January 2021, for a 40-hour visit to hold meetings with Israeli officials. 

In turn, he is scheduled to visit the Palestinian territories for only one hour in a bid to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank.

Also, he will visit the Church of the Nativity and a Palestinian hospital.

LIVE UPDATES: US President Joe Biden lands in Israel for a Middle East tour that will see Israeli leaders urge tougher action against Iran, before travelling to Saudi Arabia on Friday ⬇ https://t.co/kc7nyeJnfv

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) July 13, 2022

Speaking to The New Arab, Palestinian political analysts say that Biden's visit to the West Bank is merely part of a diplomatic procedure because he cannot come to Israel without seeing the Palestinian leadership. 

"The Palestinian issue is not currently a top US priority," said Ali al-Jarbawi, a Ramallah-based political analyst. "The main objective of Biden's visit is to provide political, security and economic support to Israel by strengthening its relations with Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia."

"Normalisation between Israel and the Arab countries will increase pressure on the Palestinians to make more concessions in favour of Israeli settlements and crimes," Al-Jarbawi added. 

By supporting Israel, expanding its diplomatic relations, and boosting its economy, Biden is trying to curry the support of the Zionist lobby in the US in the upcoming midterm elections next November.

Mustafa Ibrahim, a Gaza-based analyst, argues that Biden's visit will not broaden the political horizon in favour of the Palestinians, whether by restoring negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis or even by putting pressure on Israel to stop its continuous violations in the Palestinian territories.

"Biden's visit to the Palestinian territories will be limited to listening to the demands that the Palestinian leadership will present, but he will not fulfil any promise he might make to it," Ibrahim told The New Arab. 

Moreover, the Gaza-based analyst added, Biden will not make any serious promise to the Palestinian leadership regarding a specific date for reopening of the US consulate in Jerusalem and the office of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Washington and plans to stop the illegal Israeli settlements.

There is a third and primary goal of Biden's visit, which aims to help Israel to control security and technology vis-a-vis the Arabian Gulf through normalisation, according to Mustafa al-Sawaf, another Gaza-based political analyst. 

"The security control of the Gulf region means working to besiege the resistance and liquidate the Palestinian cause by turning the Gulf states into spy centres," al-Sawaf told The New Arab. 

"Biden and the US administration are working to support the existence of the Israeli entity by forming an Arab-US alliance, led by the Zionist entity, to confront Iranian threats in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East," al-Sawaf added

In a bid to express their rejection of Biden's visit, the Palestinians are scheduled to hold two-day popular rallies in the occupied West Bank and the besieged coastal enclave.