US to reopen diplomatic missions for Palestinians, restore aid, Biden envoy says

Washington (QNN)- The United States plans to reopen the diplomatic missions for the Palestinians and restore aid, US envoy Richard Mills told the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

Biden plans to take “steps to reopen diplomatic missions that were closed by the last US administration,” Mills said.

He did not name the institutions he was referencing, but its presumed he spoke of the PLO mission in Washington the US Consulate General in Jerusalem, both which had provided direct lines of communications between the Palestinian Authority and Washington.

“The Biden administration will restore credible US engagement with Palestinians as well as Israelis. This will involve renewing US relations with the Palestinian leadership and Palestinian people, relations which have atrophied over the last four years,” he said.

He added, “President Biden has been clear in his intent to restore US assistance programs that support economic development and humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people.”

Mills also emphasized on the importance of preserving the viability of a two-state resolution to the conflict, even in the absence of a peace process.

“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.

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

“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.

He also called for international protection for the Palestinians from Israeli settlers violence and condemned ‘Israel’ for not providing the Palestinians with COVID-19 vaccines.