White House: No new peace push during Biden’s Mideast visit

The White House on Friday played down suggestions that Vice President Joe Biden would launch a new peace initiative during a visit to Israel and the West Bank next week.

“The vice president will not be carrying any major new initiatives,” a senior administration official told reporters.

Twenty-nine Israelis and three foreign nationals have been killed in the five-month wave of violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Nearly 170 Palestinians have also been killed — some two-thirds of them while attacking Israelis, and the rest during clashes with troops — according to the Israeli army.

“Obviously we are all watching with great concern the kind of defuse but persistent violence between Palestinians and Israelis in recent months,” the official said.

Biden is set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin in Jerusalem, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.

He will also meet former Israeli president Shimon Peres. “Peres has had some health issues as of late, and this is basically a friend meeting with another long-standing friend,” the official said.

Biden and Netanyahu are expected to discuss the fight against the Islamic State group, further negotiations over a defense aid package and Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Other regional issues, such as fighting in neighboring Syria and including Turkey in a regional Mediterranean bloc, are also expected to be on the agenda.

The prime minister has angered the White House by publicly opposing a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict, an idea that had been the bedrock for decades of peace talks.

Biden’s visit to Israel will be his second diplomatic visit since a trip in 2010 was marred by the announcement of a major Israeli settlement project in East Jerusalem.

According to a diplomatic cable leaked last month, the episode sparked a rift between Jerusalem and Washington, with Netanyahu then asking European leaders to help patch up ties with US President Barack Obama.

Six years on, after some fits and starts, the peace process remains moribund.

“It’s not clear to us that the two sides at the moment have the political will to (hold) genuine negotiations,” the White House official said.

“So while we will continue to urge both sides to find steps to de-escalate the tensions and leave the door open for a two-state outcome, the vice president is not going to be bringing any major initiatives.”

President Barack Obama has stated that the two-state solution remains the only viable outcome.

“It’s hard to see how in the coming decade Israel remains both secure and democratic and a Jewish state in the absence of a two-state outcome,” he said.

Biden departs Washington on Tuesday and will travel to the United Arab Emirates and Jordan in addition to Israel and the West Bank.

In a statement, Israel’s Government Press Office said Biden’s arrival would not include any fanfare. “His arrival will include leaving the plane, a red carpet and handshakes. There will be no welcoming ceremony and no speeches,” the statement read.