Palestinian Authority has direct contact with Biden campaign

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Robert Spencer

No surprise here. Trump is indeed “the worst American president ever when it comes to the Palestinians,” because he stopped enabling the “Palestinian” jihad, both by showering the Palestinian Authority and Gaza with money and by echoing “Palestinian” jihad rhetoric. Biden would resume that enabling.

“Palestinian Authority is direct contact with Biden campaign, PA officials say,” Media Line, November 2, 2020:

Two senior Palestinian officials have confirmed that the Palestinian Authority is maintaining direct channels of communication with the campaign of U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a Palestinian-American businessman had helped establish contact between the PA and Biden’s top advisers.

PA officials have roundly condemned the policies of the incumbent, Donald Trump. Under Trump, the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moved its embassy there from Tel Aviv. The PA claims East Jerusalem as the future capital of a Palestinian state.

In response, the Palestinian leaders cut off contact with the Trump Administration and refused to enter U.S.-led talks with Israel under the so-called deal of the century, which they swiftly rejected as biased toward Israel.

Washington also terminated millions of dollars of annual financial aid to the PA and ordered the Palestine Liberation Organization office in the American capital shuttered.

The PA has proclaimed that under Trump, the U.S. is no longer an honest broker to mediate peace. Biden, on the other hand, is closely associated with the Obama administration, regarded by Palestinians and most Israelis as having been far-more friendly to Palestinian aspirations.

“We are sure that if he wins, he will reassert the U.S. position on the two-state solution and order the PLO office in Washington reopened,” said the second PA official.

Jihad Harb, a political analyst for several Palestinian media outlets, says the Palestinians are watching the election campaigns with great interest because whoever wins will have a major impact on the Palestinian cause.

“It is not surprising that there are relations with American parties,” he said.

“The Palestinians have reestablished relations with an important segment of the congressional leadership in the past few years,” he said.

“The Democratic Party has a majority in the House of Representatives, and there are certainly channels of communication.”

Harb says the PA is confident that as president, Biden would work to reopen additional channels for contacts.

“They [Palestinian leaders] definitely want Trump to leave,” the analyst said. “He imposed a set of cruel, unfair and anti-Palestinian measures, and therefore they prefer Biden, at least because of their experience with him during his years as vice president in the Obama administration.”

Harb said the PA knows Biden well and would be “ecstatic” to see the Democrat in the White House.

“The Palestinians usually prefer the Democrats, and the Palestinian leadership prefers that the president be from the Democratic Party,” he said.

While Palestinian officials remain circumspect – publicly, at least – rank and file citizens are openly cheering for Biden, with many using the term “catastrophic” to describe the specter of a second Trump term.

“He’s the worst American president ever when it comes to the Palestinians,” said Fahmi Khalaf, a men’s clothing store owner in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

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