US VP Biden to visit Ramallah, West Bank next week

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.

Thursday 03 Mar 2016 - 17:00 Makkah mean time-23-5-1437 (Image from AFP) Washington, (IINA) - The White House stated on Wednesday that Vice President Joe Biden will visit Ramallah, the West Bank, and Israel next week, a rare trip amid fears about escalating political violence, AFP reported. "The Vice President and (his wife) Dr. (Jill) Biden will travel to Jerusalem and Ramallah" on March 8, the White House said in a statement. Biden's visit comes as the White House considers how it could help restart the moribund peace process before President Barack Obama leaves office early next year. Obama has acknowledged that there will be no comprehensive agreement between Israelis and Palestinians before then, or even Camp David or Oslo-style summits. A five-month wave of violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories that has left more than 200 dead, mostly Palestinians, according to an AFP toll count, has worried the White House and prompted thinking about steps that could help reduce tensions. Biden will meet with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah to discuss regional interests, as well as with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin in Jerusalem, White House said. It is noteworthy that Biden will also visit Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. The violence wave emerged as part of religious and political tensions over the Israeli repeated assault on Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound, particularly Israel's enforcement of a temporal division of the compound between Muslims and Jews. Obama has so far failed to convince Netanyahu to halt settlement building activity, which is seen as illegal under international law and poses a major stumbling block to peace efforts. Relations between the two, which have been strained for a long time, were virtually destroyed by Netanyahu's opposition to the nuclear deal with Iran. AG/IINA