Trump reverses Biden’s betrayal of Israel

President Trump’s decision to treat Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza (“disputed territories”) as two separate non-contiguous territorial entities has reversed former President Biden’s treatment of them as contiguous territorial entries within which a Palestinian Arab state between Israel and Jordan should be created (“two-state solution”).

The paper trail supporting Biden’s thinking can be found in draft resolution S/2024/448 (“draft Resolution”) prepared by the Biden administration and subsequently adopted by the Security Council 14-0 as Resolution 2735 on 10 June 2024.

Ostensibly the draft Resolution was dealing with Biden’s attempt to procure a ceasefire in Gaza – yet the draft Resolution went far further by including the following two clauses specifically designating the two-state solution that Biden wanted Israel – and the United Nations Security Council - to accept:

“5. [Rejecting] any attempt at demographic or territorial change in the Gaza Strip, including any actions that reduce the territory of Gaza;

6. [Reiterating] its [the Security Council] unwavering commitment to the vision of the two-State solution where two democratic States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders, consistent with international law and relevant UN resolutions, and in this regard stresses the importance of unifying the Gaza Strip with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority;”

Voila – in the blink of an eye – a territorially-undesignated two-state solution called for on 23 December 2016 in Security Council Resolution 2334 – not drafted by the Obama administration and not vetoed by then President Obama and Vice President Biden - had morphed into a finite territorially-designated two-state solution on 10 June 2024 drafted and supported by the Biden administration:

“Unifying the Gaza Strip with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority” (“Biden’s two-state solution”).

Obama’s Secretary of State - John Kerry – explained why the Obama administration had not vetoed Resolution 2334:

“the vote in the United Nations was about preserving the two-state solution. That’s what we were standing up for: Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state, living side by side in peace and security with its neighbors. That’s what we are trying to preserve for our sake and for theirs.”

The Obama administration’s failure to veto Resolution 2334 proved disastrous for Israel as the Security Council then proceeded to use Resolution 2334 for the next seven years as a battering ram to delegitimize and denigrate Israel and pressure Israel into entering negotiations to create a two-state solution.

Gaza’s invasion of Israel on 7 October 2023 and the war that has raged since should have triggered a rethink by Biden on the wisdom of continuing to advocate for a two-state solution that Obama and Biden had sought to preserve since 23 December 2016.

Biden – however - refused to change course - going even further.

On 17 January 2024 Biden’s Secretary of State Blinken reiterated the need for “a pathway to a Palestinian state”- adding:

“You’re not going to get the genuine security you need absent that. And, of course, to that end as well, a stronger, reformed Palestinian Authority that can more effectively deliver for its own people has to be part of the equation”

Biden ignored Netanyahu’s warning on 24 January 2024:

“I will not compromise on full Israeli security control over all the territory west of Jordan - and this is contrary to a Palestinian state,”

Biden betrayed Israel by slipping his own proposed two-state solution into draft Resolution S/2024/448.

Trump’s decision to treat Gaza as a separate territorial entity has sunk Biden’s two-state solution.

Trump will veto any Security Council attempt to implement Biden’s two-state solution contained in Resolution 2735.

Trump’s decision on allocating sovereignty in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) is expected this coming week.

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Author’s note: The cartoon is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

David Singer is an Australian Lawyer, a Foundation Member of the International Analyst Network and Convenor of Jordan is Palestine International—an organization calling for sovereignty of the West Bank and Gaza to be allocated between Israel and Jordan as the two successor States to the Mandate for Palestine. Previous articles written by him can be found at: jordanispalestine.blogspot.com