Coming into office, the Biden administration was transparent that the Middle East would largely take a backseat in its foreign policy agenda. However, recent developments in the war with Gaza forced the Israeli-Palestinian conflict back into the forefront of international attention and revealed elements of the administration’s approach to the conflict.
U.S. policy on the conflict has long been a point of bipartisan harmony, with more consensus than contention. The Biden administration’s policy had been largely aligned with past administrations’ policies, with a few notable differences. President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have repeatedly indicated that the two-state situation is the only way to resolve the conflict. However, the administration has not detailed core issues such as Jerusalem, final borders, refugees and security.
By contrast, the prior administration outlined a detailed framework for resolving the conflict, much as was done – though starkly different in vision from Donald Trump's plan – during the Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations. This plan was considered a non-starter for the Palestinians, given what was more widely recognized as its heavy bias toward Israel’s positions. To date, the Biden administration has focused on resetting the destination.
The Biden administration reset the relationship with the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah after the prior Trump administration closed the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem – the longstanding U.S. mission to the Palestinians – and halted almost all assistance provided to the Palestinian people. Harkening back to the era of U.S.-Palestinian engagement ushered in with the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, the Biden administration has partially resumed assistance and during Blinken’s visit to Israel in 2021, he announced that the consulate they seek to reopen would be in Jerusalem and also warned Israeli leaders who were planning to evict Palestinian families from their homes in the Jerusalem district of Sheikh Jarrah, where they have lived for generations, that such steps as expelling Palestinian families from East Jerusalem could “undermine even further the difficult prospect of two states,” and “spark renewed tension, conflict and war.”
While refraining from the specification of Jerusalem’s final status, the message is a clear backtrack from the "Trump plan" that stipulated that “Jerusalem will remain the sovereign capital of the State of Israel and it should remain an undivided city.”
Biden and members of his administration have repeatedly said that the U.S. believes that Palestinians and Israelis “deserve equal measures of security, freedom, opportunity and dignity.” This parity is a departure from the approach of the prior administration, in which senior officials described numerous issues recognized by the international community as Palestinian rights as only aspirations.
Besides, Blinken said that the U.S. opposes any steps by either side that “either risk sparking violence or ... ultimately undermine the prospect for returning to the pursuit of two states.” He listed settlement activity among such steps, alongside home demolitions, evictions, incitement to violence and payment to terrorists.
The framing carries echoes of many prior U.S. administration public statements that have refrained from referring to settlements as illegal in favor of phrases such as “obstacle to peace” or “ill-advised.” It departs from the Trump administration, under whose plan not a single settlement was to be dismantled and Israel would have been allowed to extend its sovereignty over all Israeli settlements.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel on Oct. 12 in a show of support for the Israeli government as Israeli forces were launching a sustained and forceful military campaign against the Gaza Strip in response to an army offensive by Hamas, the Palestinian group that rules Gaza, in Israeli territories.
The conflict began when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against Israel, a multipronged surprise attack including a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel via land, sea and air.
Hamas said the operation retaliated for storming Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and Israeli settlers’ growing violence against Palestinians.
The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets within the Gaza Strip. Israel's response has extended into ordering over 1 million Gazans in the northern strip to evacuate to the south.
"The message I bring to Israel is this: You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself. But as long as America exists, you will never, ever have to," Blinken said, speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv.
The U.S. has rapidly increased its flow of military assistance and weapons shipments to Israel in response to the attack, and the Navy has moved warships closer to Israel in the Mediterranean Sea.
On his part, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the Pentagon was ready to deploy more military aid to Israel and said that munitions, air defense capabilities and other equipment and resources were "rapidly flowing" to Washington's closest Middle Eastern ally.
Israel's response, which has already involved dropping thousands of bombs on Gaza, is expected to intensify as it prepares a possible ground assault on the narrow, densely populated coastal strip. The U.S. plans to send 2,000 noncombat troops to support Israel’s ground invasion.
Earlier, Blinken and Netanyahu called on countries around the world to condemn the surprise attacks by Hamas, saying this is a moment for "moral clarity."
Israel's massive and aerial bombardments have killed more than 4,000 civilians, mostly women, children and the elderly, injured thousands, and over 1 million people were displaced, while homes, schools, universities, mosques, hospitals and many neighborhoods were wiped out completely.
In his second visit to Israel since the deadly attacks began, the State Department said that Blinken met with Netanyahu and reaffirmed U.S. support and willingness to aid the country.
"You know our deep commitment to Israel's right, indeed, its obligation to defend itself and its people," Blinken said.
The visit came as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza was reaching a critical point and all military operations showed no signs of abating; the continued siege on Gaza – since 2007 – has affected water supply, food, medicine and other basic needs, and there are daily indications of violations of the laws of war and international human rights law.
Moreover, and in a horrible new massacre ahead of a planned trip for President Biden to Israel in the most powerful demonstration of his support for Israel in the war, on Oct. 17, the Israeli military bombed the Baptist Hospital in Gaza, killing more than 500 civilians, doctors, children and patients with hundreds more injured.
The Israeli military has denied responsibility for the attack and Biden immediately and before any investigation backed Israel's account of the deadly attack on the Gaza hospital.
Biden and other American government officials have backed Israeli calls to eliminate Hamas, which is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
On her part, U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib blamed Biden for supporting and encouraging Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza instead of pushing for de-escalation in the conflict.
“Israel just bombed the Baptist Hospital, killing 500 Palestinians (doctors, children, patients) just like that,” Tlaib said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “(Biden,) this is what happens when you refuse to facilitate a ceasefire & help deescalate.”
“Your war and destruction only approach has opened my eyes and many Palestinian Americans and Muslim Americans like me,” she continued. “We will remember where you stood.”
The White House has so far fully supported what it says is “Israel’s right to defend itself."
“This is Israel’s most intense bombing campaign in Gaza in recent memory,” residents of the besieged territory say.
Despite rising worries that the U.S.' biased stance will risk undermining efforts to defuse Israel-Gaza tension and may exacerbate the situation and involve additional parties in the Israel-Gaza conflict, the U.S. is reportedly considering sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East region as a show of solidarity for Israel and "a warning to regional players" as more countries attempt to de-escalate tensions. Besides, according to analysts, the U.S.' one-sided support for Israel would neither help put an end to the conflict in the Gaza Strip nor make the two sides realize that employing violence to stop violence, on the contrary, would just prolong the vicious cycle in the area and intensify hostility between Palestinians and Israelis and make future negotiations more difficult. Moreover, the feud between Palestine and Israel may intensify as a result of the ongoing conflict, and tensions between countries that back Palestine, such as Iran, Syria and Türkiye, will be more visible.
However, as some Israeli officials have claimed to make the Gaza Strip pay a hefty price that will change reality for generations, the result of the current conflict may be very tragic, it might not achieve the intended security and deterrence, and as long as there is no conclusive resolution to the Palestinian issue, the conflict between Israel and Palestine will continue.
The Biden administration has reaffirmed U.S. support for a two-state solution but hasn’t moved to restart negotiations. It has instead promoted Israeli-Arab normalization and resumed aid for Palestinians.
The U.S.' reconciliation strategy in the Middle East is unjust and unreasonable to Palestinians because of its strong backing for Israel. Many global and regional powers, including China, Russia, Türkiye and Arab countries, are trying to help defuse tensions since more casualties and a more catastrophic humanitarian situation are not what the international community wants to see.
It is essential to restart the peace talks, implement the two-state solution, and seek a comprehensive and proper settlement of the Palestine question through political means early so that the parties' legitimate concerns can be taken care of. While there has been a trend of reconciliation in the Middle East in recent years, with some relations improving and tensions decreasing, this new round of conflict lets the world know that reconciliation without solving the Palestinian issue is incomplete and fragile.
Analysts noted that the Arab world, the Middle East and the international community should reconsider this issue and put it on the agenda. Palestine and Israel still need the mediation and help of the international community to get out of the vicious cycle of violent conflicts as soon as possible.
