Joe Biden’s administration has not changed Middle East policy much from Trump, but one good thing it has done is restore State Department briefings, so the public gets a window on policy-making. And a few reporters have insisted on asking questions about Palestinian human rights– as the AP’s Matt Lee did dramatically last week.
Two days ago Said Arikat of Al Quds used the briefing to address the Israeli killing of his own cousin in the occupied West Bank.
It being International Women’s Day, Arikat first brought up the Israeli use of administrative detention against “dozens” of women. “I wonder if you have a position on this continued awful administrative detention that is being practiced against the Palestinians.”
State spokesperson Ned Price responded with the two-state solution.
A two-state solution ensures Israel’s continuing identity as a Jewish and democratic state, just as it fulfills the Palestinians’ legitimate and rightful aspirations for dignity and for self-determination in a state of their own.
Arikat became impatient and said Biden is not changing policy, then brought up his cousin’s killing last June 23.
But until then, I mean – fine. I mean, that – but until then, what – practices like these – I mean, I can go on and on and on. Last June, for instance, a young cousin of mine was shot dead in cold blood – Ahmed Erekat… His body is still there. The Israelis have not turned back – this to his family just to torment them. There are 67 cases like this. I just want to ask you, I mean, what are you doing different than, let’s say, your predecessor? The embassy remains in Jerusalem despite being against international law, the office remains closed, resuming aid to UNRWA has not taken place, and I can go on and on and on. So how are you different from the previous one?
Price said that the administration will be “deepening our engagement with the Palestinian people and the Palestinian leadership. I’d rather not make comparisons, but I will say that is our priority.” The administration is committed to funding Palestinian refugees, and “you will see concrete manifestations of that going forward.”
It’s unfortunate that the Biden administration can’t take a stance on the tormenting of the Erekat family by the withholding of Ahmed’s body, or the absence of an investigation into his killing.
Erekat was killed at a military checkpoint in the occupied West Bank last June, as he was going to pick up his sister from a beauty salon because she was to get married later that day. As Yumna Patel reported, his car crashed at the checkpoint, not at a high speed, and when he got out of the car with his hands up, backing away from the soldiers, he was shot six times in a few seconds. He was left bleeding for 45 minutes without any medical attention and later died.
Ahmed’s family say that he had no hostile intention. “It was clearly an accident,” says sister Farah. His mother Najah: “He got down from the car and held up his hands, but they still killed him.”
Since then the Israelis have held on to Ahmed’s body as a bargaining chip in the “cemetery of numbers.” As Noura Erekat, a human rights lawyer who is also Ahmed’s cousin, told Middle East Eye:
“Israel labelled Ahmed a terrorist, and that was enough to suspend any form of critical inquiry about his case.
“In this case there were no questions asked on Israel’s part about investigations, or if this was actually a car accident.”…
“This is an egregious policy that Israel frames as a matter of national security… They say they want to withhold these bodies for prisoner exchanges, but the people being held are not prisoners of war. These are civilians.”
Omar Shakir of Human Rights Watch says withholding the body is a collective punishment of the Erekat family.
“Preventing a family from burying their son in a dignified way is cruel and without legal justification. At the very least they should allow them to bury their loved one and have closure,” Shakir said.
The good news here is that the State Department briefing is turning into a forum for reporters who are impatient with the charade of a two -state solution.
Palestinian human rights came up March 3 when Matt Lee badgered Ned Price about where Palestinians should go for accountability if they can’t go to the ICC. They came up again on March 5, and repeatedly on March 8, the day Arikat asked about his cousin. Matt Lee of AP followed up on Arikat’s questions by saying that Palestinians have been waiting “decades” for nothing.
When do you expect these moves that you were talking about… I mean, sometime soon in the – or is there really no timeline on it? Because I mean, if you’re looking at this from the Palestinian perspective, they’ve been waiting decades, right.
Price responded, “We certainly understand the urgency of it.”
The Biden administration – just like administrations before it – has taken a stance:
Biden is turning his back on the Palestinians as long as he can pursue his agenda ‘unimpeded’ by their problems. So, the pressure needs to be kept up until, and beyond, the time when he begins to address the issue of Palestinian justice. Once he realizes that the ‘squeaky wheel’ calling for this justice becomes at least as troublesome as the ‘squeaky wheel’ that is the constant demands of Bibi and his Zionists agents in congress, we should see some positive movement on the issue.
It is unfortunate we have to feel some satisfaction that someone asked an important and factual question about Israel’s crimes, because it is so rare that the US administration is confronted with some truth.
We have had nothing but crickets from the media, and they seem to walk on egg shells, when it comes to asking the hard questions about Israel, our dear “ally”, and they avoid being the object of attention by those just waiting to accuse them of being anti-semitic, and that they prefer to cling to their jobs instead of making waves.
It IS a hopeless situation, and it HAS been decades of this BS, with the US pretending there is a two state solution around the corner. Biden like those before him, will be aiding and abetting Israel’s crimes, whatever his spokespeople say, nothing will change.
The world knows that, just like we all do.