In West Bank, Biden embraces 'two states for two peoples'

But the U.S. President also added that the ground is ‘not ripe at the moment’ for the negotiations to restart.

President Joe Biden acknowledged on Friday that an independent state for Palestinians “can seem so far away” as he confronted hopelessness about the stagnant peace process during a visit to the West Bank.

“The Palestinian people are hurting now,” he said. “You can just feel it. Your grief and frustration. In the United States, we can feel it.”

Biden commented during a joint appearance in Bethlehem with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Although he’s announced $316 million in financial assistance for the Palestinians during his visit, there’s no clear path to getting peace talks back on track.

“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,” he said.

Biden said the "Palestinian people 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.”

Abbas, in his own remarks, said it was time to “turn the page on the Israeli occupation on our land." He also said Israel “cannot continue to act as a state above law.”

Biden was welcomed to Bethlehem by a pair of Palestinian children, who gave him a bouquet of flowers, and a band that played the U.S. national anthem.