US President Joe Biden, while speaking at a commencement address, stressed that he is working not only for a ceasefire but to build sustainable peace in the region.
TOVAH LAZAROFF MAY 19, 2024 18:35
The United States is working to put in place a two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, US President Joe Biden said during a commencement address Sunday at Morehouse College in Georgia.
“I’m working to make sure we finally get a two-state solution, the only solution for two people,” he said.
Biden spoke as US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan was in Israel, arriving after a meeting with Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman in which they discussed the Saudi deal and the Gaza war.
Saudi Arabia has not wanted to move forward with a deal while the Gaza war is ongoing. The United States has increasingly favored a diplomatic solution to the war, possibly through its triad deal with Saudi Arabia.
“What’s happening in Gaza and Israel is heartbreaking,” Biden told the college graduates.
“Hamas’s vicious attack on Israel” in which they killed innocent people and seized others as hostages, he said.
Biden condemned Oct. 7, but also raised plight of Palestinians in Gaza
Biden recalled his visit to Israel just nine days after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, where he had been shown visual evidence of how Hamas had bound a mother and daughter together and burned them alive, “watching them die.”
Separately, he said, there are “innocent Palestinians caught in the middle of all this.” These are men, women, and children killed or displaced and in desperate need of water, food, and medicine. There’s a humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” Biden said.
He stressed that he had called for an immediate ceasefire that would bring home the remaining 128 hostages.
“We call for an immediate ceasefire, to stop the fighting and bring the hostages home,” Biden stated.
Efforts for such a deal have stalled, but Biden stressed, “I’ve been working on a deal as we speak, working around the clock to lead an international effort to get more aid into Gaza” and “rebuild it,” he said.
“I’m also working around the clock for more than just one ceasefire. I’m working to bring the region together and build a lasting, durable peace,” Biden said.
He added, however, that the question is, what happens after the war, “what happens in Gaza, what rights do the Palestinian people have?” he asked, as he explained that two-state was the best way forward.
Content retrieved from: https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-801750.