Meeting Biden’s security adviser, Abbas urges closer US-Palestinian ties

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas hosts visiting US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan for talks in Ramallah, telling him that obstacles to closer American-Palestinian ties “must be removed,” according to a statement by Abbas’s office.

The Palestinian Authority recently restored formal ties with the United States after a four-year boycott that followed former president Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the American embassy there. However, the relationship has been plagued by difficulties: Ramallah has asked the Biden administration to allow it to reopen a mission in Washington and for the US to reopen the consulate in Jerusalem. Neither has yet happened.

Abbas also tells Sullivan that Israel must stop expanding settlements, halt evictions of Palestinians in East Jerusalem neighborhoods, respect the status quo at the Temple Mount holy site, and stop deducting funds from tax revenues it transfers to Ramallah.

“The President stressed the need to stop these unilateral Israeli practices that undermine the two-state solution,” the statement says.

Sullivan, for his part, repeats America’s stated commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to the statement.