During a visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Friday, President Joe Biden offered compassion and financial assistance for hope-starved Palestinians but also delivered a blunt acknowledgment that the “ground is not ripe” for new attempts to reach an elusive peace. Political uncertainty in Israel, which is holding another round of elections in November, and the weakness of Palestinian Authority leadership has dimmed any chance of restarting negotiations that broke down more than a decade ago. The stalemate has left millions of Palestinians living under Israeli military rule. Biden said they “deserve a state of their own that’s independent, sovereign, viable and contiguous. Two states for two peoples, both of whom have deep and ancient roots in this land, living side by side in peace and security.” Although such a goal “can seem so far away,” he said he wouldn’t abandon the dormant peace process. “Even if the ground is not ripe at this moment to restart negotiations, the United States and my administration will not give up on bringing the Palestinians and the Israelis, both sides, closer together,” Biden said during a joint appearance with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Biden offered more than $300 million for the Palestinians on Friday, including $201 million for a United Nations agency that helps refugees and a proposed $100 million for hospitals. The healthcare funding requires congressional approval. Israel has also committed to upgrading wireless networks in the West Bank and Gaza, part of a broader effort to improve economic conditions. However, Biden did not criticize Israel for expanding settlements, some of which resemble sprawling suburbs, in occupied territory that the Palestinians want for a future state. Nor did he mention his unfulfilled pledge to reopen a U.S. consulate in east Jerusalem, which served as a de facto embassy to the Palestinians before President Donald Trump closed it three years ago. Abbas, in his own remarks, said “the key to peace” in the region “begins with ending the Israeli occupation of our land,” and he said Israel “cannot continue to act as a state above law.” He also raised the death of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, saying her killers “need to be held accountable.” Abu Akleh was shot during an Israeli military raid in the West Bank in May, and U.S. officials say she was likely killed unintentionally by Israeli troops. However, they did not say how they reached that conclusion, and the outcome angered many Palestinians, including her family, who accuse the U.S. of trying to help Israel evade responsibility. Biden said the U.S. “will continue to insist on a full and transparent accounting of her death and will continue to stand up for media freedom everywhere in the world.” He called her death “an enormous loss to the essential work of sharing with the world the story of the Palestinian people.” Palestinian journalists wore black T-shirts with Abu Akleh’s picture and placed a poster of her on an empty chair in the room where the leaders spoke. Biden’s trip to the West Bank was met with skepticism and bitterness among Palestinians who believe he has taken too few steps toward reviving peace talks, especially after Trump sidelined them while heavily favoring Israel. Israel’s outgoing government has taken steps to improve economic conditions in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. […]

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