SHAFAQNA- USA’s President Joe Biden met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem on Friday (15 July 2022) amid protests in the Israeli-occupied West Bank against his visit. Speaking at a press conference, Abbas called for an end to Israeli settlements and for accountability for the killers of Abu Akleh.
“Is it not time for this occupation to end?” Abbas said, reiterating demands that the US open a consulate in East Jerusalem, which Palestinians want as the capital of a future independent state, remove the Palestine Liberation Organisation from a list of terrorist groups and allow it to re-open an office in Washington. Biden meanwhile said the US “will not give up” on a just solution to the Palestine-Israel conflict.
“Even if the ground is not right at this moment to restart negotiations, the United States and my administration will not give up on trying to bring the Palestinians, Israelis and both sides closer together.”
United States President has claimed that his government is insisting on accountability for the May killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by the Israeli army.
“The United States will continue to insist on a full and transparent accounting of her death and will continue to stand up for media freedom everywhere in the world,” Biden said on Friday in a joint press conference with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas. The USA’s President made no mention of Israel’s responsibility for the killing of the 51-year-old veteran Palestinian-American Journalist on May 11 while she was reporting in the occupied West Bank.
Source: middleeasteye, aljazeera