The State Department says the vision of a Palestinian state has been the policy of the Biden administration all along. “We are actively pursuing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state – with real security guarantees for Israel, because we do believe that is the best way to bring about lasting peace and security for Israel, for Palestinians, and for the region,” department spokesman said.
[Cheonji Daily News Washington=Reporter Eloise Lee], January 31 —
The U.S. State Department made clear on Wednesday that it is policy of the United States “for some time” to support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
Press secretary Matthew Miller told reporters that this stance is nothing new, amid a report from news website Axios that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken recently ordered staff to prepare policy plans for a Palestinian state after the war in Gaza. The report suggested a "policy shift" in the administration.
Miller downplayed the report saying there has been no shift in policy because the Biden Administration has always supported an independent Palestinian state.
“Without confirming a specific report, I will say that yes, we do have ongoing policy planning processes about how best to advance the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” he said. “We do a lot of work inside the government to think about how to bring that about,” he added.
Miller said the State Department has been looking at several options for establishing a Palestinian state, as part of a normal planning process — a brainstorm of sorts.
“The vast majority of options never usually get implemented, because we put things on the drawing board and figure out what will work, what will be effective, and how best to sequence it,” he explained.
Except for the four years that Donald Trump was in office, Miller confirmed that the U.S. has for many years sought to establish a Palestinian state that is independent of Israel.