Ahead of Joe Biden‘s first visit to Jerusalem as US president, Washington’s ambassador said his team will “pound tables” to press Israeli officials into making concessions to the Palestinians. But ambassador Thomas Nides was talking about ensuring Palestinians have access to economic benefits such as 4G internet, not throwing American diplomatic muscle into reviving a peace process moribund since 2014.
Biden’s first Middle East tour since entering the White House last year begins in Israel on Wednesday, and he is expected to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Friday in Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
US-Palestinian ties have improved under Biden, after hitting an all-time low under his predecessor Donald Trump, a staunch backer of the Israelis.
Along with the prospect of faster internet, the visit may also see the US restore funding to hospitals in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, which have historically served Palestinians. But some Palestinians said they are weary of US diplomacy which, they claim, emphasises economic benefits above core issues of the seven-decade conflict.
“It would be nice to have the 4G,” said Mohammed Mostafa, a former Palestinian Authority deputy prime minister and ex-chief executive of Paltel, the largest telecoms operator in the Palestinian territories.
“But it’s obviously not a substitute for solving the bigger issues like Jerusalem, like sovereignty or like freedom,” he told AFP. Israel thinks people will forget about the bigger picture,” he added.
Israeli operators have a significant part of the Palestinian telecoms and broadband market,” Mostafa said. “This would be a chance to bring that back to Palestinian companies.
But “the Israelis think ‘we’re going to give you 4G so you’ll keep quiet on the other things,” Mostafa added. “We are interested, but we also want bigger things.”
Until July 1, Israel was led by prime minister Naftali Bennett, a right-winger who opposed the Palestinians’ over-arching demand — the establishment of their own state.
Bennett embraced an approach known as “shrinking the conflict,” seeking to defuse tensions by improving economic opportunities in the West Bank and the blockaded Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the Islamist group Hamas.
Source: IOL
In other news – Video of Malume struggling to swim in a competition leaves Mzansi in stitches
An amusing video of a man participating in a swimming competition has been doing the rounds on social media! The clip shows the man, referred to as Malume, taking off in an odd dive into the pool and proceeding to swim in an awkward manner.
Although he splashed about in his attempt to finish the race, his die-hard supporters can be heard cheering him on in the background. Learn more
