Biden’s tour will discuss regional security and confronting common threats

Today, Wednesday, US President Joe Biden begins a tour of the Middle East, accompanied by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, and it seems crowded with stations and files.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement that Blinken will accompany Biden on a trip that begins Wednesday in Israel, before heading to Saudi Arabia. He added that the president’s tour aims “to consult with Israeli, Palestinian, Gulf and regional partners on a set of priorities, including deepening US relations throughout the region, regional security, support for the two-state solution, and confronting common threats, including posed by Iran.” “After meetings in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, President Biden and Secretary Blinken will visit Jeddah to attend the Gulf Cooperation Council summit along with Egypt, Iraq and Jordan, to discuss integration efforts to support regional stability and prosperity, as well as other common interests,” Price continued.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters, Monday evening, that President Biden “will seek, during this trip, to maintain and strengthen the fragile ceasefire in Yemen, as well as seek to deepen Israel’s integration in the region, provide material support to the Palestinian people, and protect the vision of a solution.” He will consult and coordinate with allies on the multifaceted threat posed by Iran in the field of energy and food security, in the face of Russian aggression in Ukraine, and mobilize support from partners in the Middle East to launch initiatives in the field of technology and infrastructure.

In Tel Aviv, sources reported that President Biden might issue a declaration on the two-state solution and settlements during his visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories. The “Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation” quoted sources as saying that Biden may make statements that the continuation of construction in the settlements endangers the principle of the two-state solution and distances both parties from achieving a permanent solution. According to the arrangements between the Palestinians and the Americans, Biden is expected to confirm that the two-state solution is the only solution to the conflict and the establishment of peace.