Palestinians have low expectations for Biden's upcoming visit

Othman Jabarin, a 57-year-old resident of Masafer Yatta area south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, has been living in anxiety for two months, fearing that he and his family will be expelled from where they have been sheltering for decades, reported by Xinhua.

In May, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled to approve the Israeli army's recommendation to forcibly transfer residents in eight villages in Masafer Yatta who "failed to prove" they were permanent residents in the area before it was declared a military training zone for the army.

In June, the White House announced that U.S. President Joe Biden would visit Saudi Arabia, Israel and the West Bank during his trip to the Middle East on July 13-16, and meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

However, the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza said they do not have high expectations for the visit and don't think it will end their suffering or find a solution to their cause.

Jabarin was one of the Palestinians who showed no interest in Biden's visit. He told Xinhua that Biden's visit to the West Bank and his meeting with Abbas "will not benefit the residents of the eight residential communities in Masafer Yatta who were threatened with displacement, including children and women."

"Can Biden stop the Israeli measures against the residents of Masafer Yatta -- the original owners of the land, who inherited it from their parents and grandparents?" Jabarin said, adding that the visit will meet neither the aspirations nor the just demands of the Palestinians.

These Palestinians interviewed also said Biden's visit to Palestine is doomed to failure as he hasn't fulfilled the promises he made regarding the two-state solution, reopening the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, and pressuring Israel to stop its unilateral measures.

Biden's visit "will not make any difference in the political and living reality of the Palestinian people," Mohammed Abed Rabbo, a 45-year-old Arabic language teacher from northern Gaza, told Xinhua.

"The first mission of Biden's visit is to defend Israel's regional and international interests in an attempt to win Israeli public opinion on one hand, and ensure the support of the Zionist lobby in the upcoming elections on the other," he noted.

Rabbo was echoed by Hadia Al-Sha'er, a 25-year-old woman from Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip, who told Xinhua that "the visit will not benefit the Palestinian people, especially since the Americans always defend Israel's interests."

She called on the Palestinians to reject Biden's visit "as it does more harm than good," adding: "Instead of receiving Biden, the Palestinians should move towards ending internal division and restoring national unity to confront the dangers facing the Palestinian question."

Dalal Yassin, a journalist from the West Bank city of Ramallah, told Xinhua that Biden's visit would not achieve a serious breakthrough that would help the Palestinian people to live in freedom and peace.

"Biden had never fulfilled the promises he made during his election campaign," which were made a long time ago "without achieving any tangible steps on the ground," she said.

Two days ago, the secretary of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hussein al-Sheikh, told reporters in Ramallah that "the loss of hope among the Palestinians and the continuation of the daily Israeli field policy of escalation, abuse, killing, settlement, and incursion are unbearable."

Al-Sheikh called on the international community "to assume its responsibilities in this situation."