Palestinian officials hopeful for Biden victory, public not so much
The Palestinian leadership believes that the victory of Democratic candidate Joe Biden in the US presidential election may restore the Palestinian-US relationship, though Palestinians in general are not optimistic about a change in US policy if Biden wins.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian Authority is waiting in anticipation for the Nov. 3 US presidential elections, hoping that the incumbent Republican candidate, Donald Trump, will lose and leave office.
Ever since the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel signed the Oslo Accords at the White House in 1993, Palestinian-US relations have never been as poor as they are now, during the Trump era.
Since he was sworn in in January 2017, Trump has made a series of decisions that pushed the Palestinians to sever relations with the United States. First, he recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, moved the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, stopped funding for UNRWA and proposed the Mideast peace plan that dropped the two-state solution, legitimized Israeli settlements and supported Israel’s plan to annex 30% of the West Bank. He also pushed to close the PLO’s office in Washington.
In his first public and direct statement about the US elections, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh expressed his hope for a better future for Palestinian-US relations, as well as Palestinian-Israeli relations in the event that the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, wins.
