Smell, Don't Taste

· Are a few precise, calculated minutes between the American president .....and the Palestinian president in their meeting in Bethlehem... sufficient to change the ordering of priorities of the Palestinian cause within the American administration..after a long wait.....!

- Wrote, Ishaan Tharoor and Sammy Westfall an article titled “Sustainable...” "Opinion of the World Today" in The Washington Post on the morning of Wednesday 13-7-2022... about President Biden's trip to the Middle East that begins today... where it appeared in the article that this trip to the Middle East ... : is pursued by two murder incidents.......! ....As President Biden begins on Wednesday (today).... a four-day tour of the Middle East. His traveling through Israel and the West Bank and Saudi Arabia will mark his presidential appearance for the first time in a region that has long commanded the foreign policy establishment in Washington...... And for Biden, the visit comes at an inopportune time: the Russian invasion of Ukraine has drained much of the geopolitical oxygen of the West...! At home, the gusts of economic headwinds may portend an imminent electoral disaster for the Democrats in the November midterm elections.

- Biden framed his mission from a pragmatic and geopolitical perspective. In an opinion piece for The Washington Post at the end of this week, (I translated it and published it in a previous post of mine on my Facebook page...)

- Nevertheless, while he follows what appears to be a crowded itinerary from Jerusalem to Jeddah, the shadow of two slain journalists hangs over his trip. There is, of course, the legacy of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi dissident ....and contributor to The Washington Post, whose abduction and gruesome killing were assessed by the U.S. intelligence community to have been carried out by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman...!

- During the campaign, Biden vowed to make the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia "pariah" and to substantially reassess Washington's relationship with Riyadh. But Biden's visit later this week will highlight how little has changed - and how his previous empty rhetoric about democratic values and human rights has been proven hollow. Biden is likely to meet with the Crown Prince, although coronavirus protocols may prevent him from humiliating the handshake...!

- Then there is also Shireen Abu Akleh, the veteran Palestinian-American journalist for Al Jazeera who was killed by a fatal bullet on 11 May while covering the disturbances in the city of Jenin in the West Bank. Forensic and open-source investigations by many media outlets, including The Washington Post, concluded that, contrary to initial Israeli claims, Abu Akleh was struck by a bullet that was likely fired by Israeli security forces....!

- The Palestinians pointed to her killing as the latest example of the impunity with which Israel practices its military occupation of the Palestinian territories. They were hardly reassured by the findings of the U.S. State Department, which concluded that Israeli fire was "likely responsible" for Abu Akleh's death, but said it "has no reason to believe this was deliberate"....!

- A letter from Abu Akleh's family indicated that "the United States is moving toward erasing any wrongdoing by Israeli forces", who demanded that Biden meet with them during his visit. Many analysts also doubt that the Biden administration will be compelled to do much to account for her death (that is, Shireen Abu Akleh)... In fact, there are low expectations for the entire trip to Israel and the West Bank: to start, Biden meets with the lame-duck Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who was recently installed and is already in the midst of an upcoming election cycle, then later he will meet with the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, whose guardianship over the moribund process toward a two-state solution looks more miserable than ever........ Biden did not make any statements or indicate in his article days earlier, about the Palestinian aspirations to establish a state ......- as successive U.S. presidents have done in the past ....!

- The article's author added... that Khaled al-Jundi, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told me during a webinar hosted by a Washington-based think tank: "The administration has done its utmost to absolve Israel of any moral responsibility" surrounding Abu Akleh's death. We already knew that the Palestinian cause was already low on this administration's list of priorities ... They do not appear to be particularly concerned about the waning popularity or legitimacy of Mahmoud Abbas. It is really just a courtesy call, at best".!

- Nevertheless, Israel — and its place in the region — is at the heart of Biden's trip. The American president will support Israel's new engagement with a group of Arab monarchies, a legacy of the Abraham Accords advanced by former President Donald Trump that Biden is moving forward with. With efforts to revive the Iranian nuclear deal having failed, the Biden administration is eager to better help integrate anti-Iran forces in the region. Talk of an "Arab NATO" has returned, this time with the unlikely role of Israel as a major partner alongside Gulf monarchies such as the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

- The Saudis can also work with their mutual hatred of Iran. They will host Biden in the context of a broader regional summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council — the main bloc of states in the Arabian Peninsula. It is a form of multilateral engagement that U.S. officials may hope will blunt criticism of Biden for reaching out to those who arranged Khashoggi's killing........! Some analysts also argue that it was reckless to try to isolate the Saudis in the first place, given their centrality to global oil markets and close ties in Washington...!

- Biden's move to bury grudges with the Saudi Crown Prince is a necessary and understandable reaction to the world, for in addition to conditions in the Middle East, the emergence of global disruptions caused by the Russian war in Ukraine," wrote F. Gregory Gause III in Foreign Affairs. "It is an acknowledgment that working toward some degree of order in a chaotic Middle East requires dealing with rulers who preside over relatively stable states and exert influence beyond their borders."!

- But others wonder whether it is worth it. Ben Rhodes, a former Obama administration official, wrote: "How does that fit with a global struggle between democracy and authoritarianism?"..! This is a question Biden would not want to answer....!..

· And my opinion ... the Palestinians are waiting... their hands on their hearts .. from not receiving what they have been repeatedly promised.. and they have been silent.. waiting for this tour..... The Palestinians by every measure are key players... whatever the hardships or neglect .. even from those close to them..... and the Palestinians deserve and are capable... and the saying "smell but not taste" does not help with them... for the vision of a two-state solution... still echoes in the ears of the Palestinians but until when?