Biden administration restoring relations with Palestinians

The Biden administration announced on Tuesday the U.S. will be restoring relations with the Palestinians, a sharp reversal of the Trump administration’s policy and one the new government believes will help Israel and the Palestinian people.

Acting U.S. Ambassador Richard Mills made the announcement during a high-level Security Council meeting, according to a report by the The Associated Press. 

The administration will also renew aid to Palestinian refugees that had been cut off by the Trump administration. 

“President Biden has been clear that he intends to restore U.S. assistance programs that support economic development programs and humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people, and to take steps to reopen diplomatic relations that were closed by the last U.S. administration,” Mills said.

The Trump administration had made support for Israel center to its foreign policy, moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and, in a big shift from past Democratic and Republican administrations, recognizing Israeli settlements in the West Bank. 

The Biden administration is quickly signaling a very different foreign policy, though Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday, has indicated it will not seek to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel. 

Mills reportedly said Biden’s administration believes restoring relations with the Palestinians “remains the best way to ensure Israel’s future as a democratic and Jewish state and the Palestinians’ legitimate aspirations for a state of their own and to live with dignity and security.”