Biden envoy; avoid annexation, settlement activity, terror payments

Israel must restrain from settlement and annexation activity and the Palestinians should hold back from incitement and terror payments, US envoy Richard Mills told the UN Security Council on Monday.

“The US will urge Israel’s government and the Palestinian Authority to avoid unilateral steps that make the two-state solution more difficult,” Mills said.

He was the first representative of the newly inaugurated Biden administration to address the UNSC and to describe the approach of the new administration in the White House to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He spoke at its monthly meeting on the conflict, which was held virtually, with the participation of foreign ministers from the 15-member body.

Mills set out the Israeli steps the US frowned on, “such as annexation of territory, settlement activity [and] demolitions.”

In comments that appeared to be leveled against the Palestinians, Mills said that the US discourages “incitement to violence [and] providing compensation to individuals in prison for acts of terrorism.”

Overall, he said, the contours of the Biden administration’s approach is a two-state resolution to the conflict mutually agreed upon by Israelis and Palestinians, in which Israel lives in peace and security alongside a viable Palestinian state. But at no point did he reference the pre-1967 lines or what the boundaries of that two-state resolution might be.

This vision is the best way to ensure Israel’s future as a democratic and Jewish state while upholding the Palestinian people’s legitimate aspirations for a state of their own and to live with dignity and security, Mills explained.

The US believes in active engagement with both sides and that a resolution relies on consent from both sides, Mills said.

He noted that the Israelis and Palestinians were far apart when it came to the resolution of core issues and that trust was at a low point.

“These realities do not relieve member states of the responsibility of trying to preserve the viability of a two-state solution, particularly the humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” Mills said.

The Biden administration will renew US relations with the Palestinian leadership and the people, Mills said. “Relations which have atrophied over the last four years,” he said.

Biden has been clear about his intent to restore financial aid to the Palestinians and to “take steps” to reopen diplomatic missions closed by the Trump administration, he said.

At the same time, the US “will maintain its steadfast support for Israel. Under the Biden administration the US will continue its long-standing policy of opposing one-sided resolutions and other actions in international bodies that unfairly single out Israel,” he said.

The US will work to promote Israel’s standing and participation in UN bodies and other international organizations, Mills said.

The Biden administration welcomes the Israeli-Arab normalization deals and will urge other Arab and Muslim majority countries to follow suit.

“We recognize that Arab-Israeli normalization is not a substitute for Israeli Palestinian peace,” Mills said.

“It is the hope of the US that normalization can proceed in a way that unlocks new possibilities to advance the two-state solution,” Mills said.

He spoke at the UNSC’s monthly meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which included a rare address by Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

Newly appointed UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland, who has replaced Nickolay Mladenov and briefed the UNSC for the first time.

Many of the countries whose representatives spoke called for a renewed and serious Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative, including the revival of the Quartet – composed of Russia, the US, the UN and the European Union, which had been largely dormant during the Trump administration.’

Russia called for a ministerial meeting that included not just the Quartet, but foreign ministers from Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and the Palestinian Authority. It also reissued Moscow’s long-standing offer to host an international peace conference.

PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki, who also spoke at the meeting, said that the Palestinians were ready to work with the Biden administration.

He also called for international protection for the Palestinians from settler violence and accused Israel of not providing the PA with COVID-19 vaccines.

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan charged that Malki’s accusations with regard to the COVID-19 vaccines were a “blood libel” against the Jewish state adding that they were “false and grotesque.”

He noted that Israel has worked closely with the UN to help Palestinians combat the pandemic including providing equipment and training.

“According to the international agreements, the Palestinian Authority is responsible for the healthcare of its own population. Just as it is responsible for their education system. They informed Israel they intend to purchase vaccines from the Russian government and Israel has announced it will facilitate their transfer. These are the facts,” Erdan said.

“Anyone who joins the Palestinian campaign of lies either doesn’t know the facts or is motivated by politics or antisemitism,” he added.