Hamas: Biden's visit attempt to integrate "Israel" into region

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
13 Jul 2022 17:11

Hamas issued a statement on Biden's visit to "Israel" and Saudi Arabia.

A Palestinian woman confronts an Israeli soldier at the scene of an attack in which two Palestinians were shot dead by the IOF in Al-Khalil, the West Bank on March 24, 2016 (AFP)

Today, Wednesday, Hamas remarked that Biden's visit to "Israel" is an act of bias and support for the Israeli occupation and is a rejected attempt to integrate the entity into the region.

Biden, who landed in "Israel" today, will also be visiting Saudi Arabia, concluding his trip on July 16th.

In a press statement, Hamas said, "We are keeping up with Biden's visit to the Zionist entity and the region, and its agenda which clearly expresses this administration's continuous approach to bolstering and supporting the Zionist occupation, its past colonial aggression against our land, our people, and our sanctities, and its denial of the rights of our people."

"This visit is a practical embodiment of the US's absolute support for the occupation and its blatant bias towards it, and it constitutes a cover for its crimes against our land, our people and our holy sites, which holds the US administration politically, legally and humanitarian-wise accountable for the relevant repercussions," the statement added.

Furthermore, Hamas warned of "this visit's dangerous agendas," including "attempts to integrate the Zionist entity into the region and expand the scope of normalization along with it, which constitutes a new challenge to the security of the region and the stability of its populations."

The movement called on the Biden administration to "stop undermining the rights of the Palestinian people and stop siding with the brutal occupation that undermines international conventions, laws, and relevant Security Council resolutions."

In this context, Hamas urged the Palestinian Authority not to "bet on the US in protecting and supporting the rights of the Palestinian people."

Biden's visit to West Asia

It is expected that Biden will be visiting Saudi Arabia on a quest for more oil production and cementing a normalization agreement with "Israel". However, the visit is more involved in regional security than oil production.

With Biden's deeming Saudi Arabia a "pariah" state, while also blaming the Saudi de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the murderer of The Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, Biden swallowed his pride and defended the trip as necessary for US security interests.

The US administration has been mediating negotiations to cede the very strategic islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia, which claimed ownership of the islands before 1950, the year when Riyadh gave Egypt authority over them.

An earlier Axios report revealed that If negotiations between the US, "Israel", Saudi Arabia, and Egypt are successful, it will pave the way for the normalization of relations between "Israel" and Saudi Arabia.