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Biden Condemns Palestinian Violence in Implicit Rebuke to Abbas Biden Condemns Palestinian Violence in Implicit Rebuke to Abbas
(about 9 hours later)
JERUSALEM — In an unusually stinging critique, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Wednesday said the United States not only deplored a recent wave of Palestinian attacks in Israel but also “condemns the failure to condemn these acts.” JERUSALEM — Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s two-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories was expected to be one of public pleasantries and private talks on regional energy and a new military aid package for Israel. Instead, he stepped into a bloody maelstrom.
It appeared to be a veiled reference to President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, whom Mr. Biden was scheduled to meet hours later. In an unusually stinging critique on Wednesday, Mr. Biden said the United States not only deplored the recent wave of Palestinian attacks, including the fatal stabbing attack that killed an American graduate student soon after Mr. Biden landed, but America also “condemns the failure to condemn these acts.” It appeared to be a veiled reference to the silence of President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, whom Mr. Biden was scheduled to meet hours later.
Mr. Biden made the pointed statement as he stood beside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, one day after a Palestinian man fatally stabbed an American graduate student and injured several other tourists and Israelis not far from where Mr. Biden was meeting with a former Israeli president, Shimon Peres. Mr. Biden made the pointed statement as he stood beside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, one day after a Palestinian man fatally stabbed Taylor Force, 28, an American combat veteran and a first-year M.B.A. student at Vanderbilt University, and wounded several other tourists and Israelis.
“This cannot become an accepted modus operandi,” Mr. Biden said. “This cannot be viewed by civilized leaders as an appropriate way in which to behave.” “Let me say in no uncertain terms: The United States of America condemns these acts and condemns the failure to condemn these acts,” Mr. Biden said, adding: “This cannot be viewed by civilized leaders as an appropriate way in which to behave.”
Mr. Biden was scheduled to meet with Mr. Abbas at the Palestinian Authority’s headquarters, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, later on Wednesday. Mr. Netanyahu said that “unfortunately President Abbas has not only refused to condemn these terrorist attacks, his Fatah party actually praised the murderer of this American citizen as a Palestinian martyr and a hero.”
Mr. Biden’s two-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories came against the backdrop of simmering tensions between the Netanyahu government and the White House, including a canceled meeting with President Obama and unresolved differences over a new American military aid package for Israel. Palestinian leaders blame growing popular anger over Israeli policies and the lack of any formal peace process for the violence.
But the disagreements were quickly overtaken by a sudden upsurge in Palestinian violence, including the multiple stabbing attack that killed the American citizen — Taylor Force, 28, a first-year M.B.A. student at Vanderbilt University — soon after Mr. Biden landed on Tuesday. “What is happening today is a Palestinian reaction to Israel’s occupation and the lack of any political horizon,” Hanna Amira, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, told Voice of Palestine radio before Mr. Biden’s meeting with Mr. Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The stabbing occurred along a popular seafront promenade in Jaffa, abutting Tel Aviv, and not far from a restaurant where Mr. Biden’s wife, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren were having dinner. Mr. Biden’s visit came against the backdrop of simmering tensions between the government of Mr. Netanyahu and the White House: Mr. Netanyahu canceled a meeting with President Obama and there are unresolved differences over a new Memorandum of Understanding for military aid for Israel, potentially worth more than $40 billion over 10 years.
“It just brings home that it can happen anywhere at any time,” Mr. Biden said of the violence. The package is viewed as a way to compensate Israel after the United States pressed for the nuclear deal with Iran over Israeli objections. But there are gaps between Washington and Jerusalem over the amount of aid and other issues, and Mr. Netanyahu recently suggested that he might prefer to wait for the next president. Mr. Biden urged the Israelis to sign the memorandum while Mr. Obama was still in office, the Israeli news media reported, citing unidentified Israeli officials.
Mr. Netanyahu said he appreciated Mr. Biden’s “strong condemnation of terrorism.” Israeli experts say that both sides now have an interest in wrapping up the deal as soon as possible, citing American budgetary constraints that are unlikely to change and the volatile situation in the Middle East.
“Nothing justifies these attacks,” Mr. Netanyahu added. “But unfortunately President Abbas has not only refused to condemn these terrorist attacks, his Fatah party actually praised the murderer of this American citizen as a Palestinian martyr and a hero.” “A new administration will take many months until people get settled into their offices,” said Zalman Shoval, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States, “and there is always an element of continuity anyway.”
Mr. Force had served as an Army officer, including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was the latest victim in a five-month wave of Palestinian attacks that have already killed about 30 Israelis, a Palestinian bystander and an American student, Ezra Schwartz, 18, who was fatally shot in the West Bank in November. About 180 Palestinians have also been killed, most while carrying out attacks, or suspected of attempting attacks, and others in clashes with Israeli security forces. Mr. Biden said that the Obama administration had “done more to help bolster Israel’s security than any other administration in history,” and that it was committed to ensuring that Israel can maintain its “qualitative edge” militarily and will have the resources to do so.
Condemnations aside, the spike in deadly violence also highlighted the gaping distance between Mr. Netanyahu’s government and the Obama administration regarding the impasse in the peace process with the Palestinians. And it was likely to fan Israeli concerns over a possible push by Mr. Obama to lay down the outlines of an agreement for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel in the final leg of his term. The spike in deadly attacks in recent months, including multiple stabbings Tuesday night along a seaside promenade in Jaffa, where the American graduate student was killed, highlighted the tense environment that exists in the absence any political negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Israelis fear that the lack of diplomacy could push Mr. Obama to lay down the outlines of an agreement for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel in the final leg of his term without talks.
“The status quo has to break somewhere along the line, in terms of a two-state solution,” Mr. Biden said at the joint news conference. “The status quo has to break somewhere along the line, in terms of a two-state solution,” Mr. Biden said in Jerusalem, cautioning that security measures alone would not stop the violence.
“Even though it may be hard to see the path ahead, we continue to encourage all sides to take steps to move back toward the path of peace,” he added.“Even though it may be hard to see the path ahead, we continue to encourage all sides to take steps to move back toward the path of peace,” he added.
Mr. Netanyahu made it clear that he did not think this was the time to advance Palestinian statehood. Mr. Netanyahu made it clear that he did not think this was the time to advance Palestinian statehood, citing “the persistent incitement in Palestinian society that glorifies murderers of innocent people and calls for a Palestinian state not to live in peace with Israel, but to replace Israel.”
Pointing to the challenges Israel faces, he said, “The first one is the persistent incitement in Palestinian society that glorifies murderers of innocent people and calls for a Palestinian state not to live in peace with Israel, but to replace Israel.” Palestinian shootings and knife attacks continued on Wednesday. Two Palestinian men in a car fired shots in a Jerusalem suburb, according to the police, then drove to a bustling thoroughfare outside the Old City, where Israeli police officers fatally shot them. A resident of East Jerusalem was also badly wounded. Soon after, a teenage Palestinian assailant tried to stab Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank and was killed at the scene.
The rush of Palestinian shooting and knife attacks continued on Wednesday. Two armed Palestinian men in a car fired shots in a Jerusalem suburb, according to the police, then drove to a bustling thoroughfare outside the Old City, where Israeli police officers fatally shot them. A resident of East Jerusalem was also badly injured. Soon after, a teenage Palestinian assailant tried to stab Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank and was killed at the scene, and a Palestinian woman entered a Jewish settlement with a knife and was arrested, according to the Israeli authorities.
Mr. Netanyahu said his government had taken many steps in recent months against Palestinian violence and would now be taking “even stronger measures.”
The Israeli government plans to close gaps in its West Bank barrier to prevent Palestinians without permits from entering Israel, and to try to clamp down on news media broadcasting incitement to violence. Some government ministers have called for the families of Palestinian assailants from the West Bank or Jerusalem to be banished to Gaza.
Hanna Amira, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, told Voice of Palestine radio that he thought the solution should be “political and not security-oriented.”
“What is happening today is a Palestinian reaction to Israel’s occupation and the lack of any political horizon,” he said, ahead of Mr. Biden’s meeting with Mr. Abbas. Mr. Amira called on the United States “to pressure Israel into halting its occupation measures.”