The US dips its toes back into Palestinian politics, but has trouble finding its feet

When President Joe Biden visited Israel and the occupied West Bank in 2022, he spent barely one hour with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Minus the time spent in translation between the two octogenarians, their conversation lasted 30 minutes, former senior US officials and Palestinian analysts told MEE.

“For the US, the Palestinian Authority was basically irrelevant. The authority wasn’t asking for much and the administration had little interest wasting political capital on them,” Diana Buttu, a former Palestinian peace negotiator, told MEE.

That changed after the Hamas-led 7 October attacks on southern Israel and the subsequent Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.

The US wants the PA to govern Gaza as part of its “day after” plan for when the war ends. On the sidelines of a think tank event in Turkey earlier this month, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said there was “no doubt” the PA would be the one ruling Gaza.

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The US dips its toes back into Palestinian politics, but has trouble finding its feet