US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the State Department on Jan. 29, 2024 in Washington, DC. Secretary General Stoltenberg is in Washington to push for more funding for Ukraine in the war against Russia. (Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images/AFP)
BEIRUT — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has asked the US State Department to present policy options regarding US and international recognition of a Palestinian state following the war in Gaza, according to two US officials briefed on the issue, who spoke with American news website Axios.
According to the same source, the fact that the State Department is even considering such options signals a shift in thinking within the Biden administration around Palestinian statehood, which has proven to be a sensitive subject both internationally and domestically.
For dozens of years, the US has opposed the recognition of Palestine as a state, holding the position that Palestinian statehood should only be achieved through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
However, efforts toward finding a diplomatic way out of the war in Gaza have facilitated rethinking normalized US paradigms and policies, a senior US official told Axios.
According to the American website, as part of America's post-war strategy, the Biden administration is linking possible normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia to the creation of a pathway for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Some inside the Biden administration are now thinking recognition of a Palestinian state should possibly be the first step in negotiations to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict instead of the last, the senior US official told Axios.
Axios added that regarding this issue, the US has several options including bilaterally recognizing the state of Palestine, not using its veto to block the UN Security Council from admitting Palestine as a full UN member state, or encouraging other countries to recognize Palestine.
Moreover, Blinken asked for a review of what a demilitarized Palestinian state would look like, two US officials told Axios.
A US official also said that the White House is aware of the reviews but stressed that Blinken hasn't signed off on any new policy and the state department is in the process of coming up with a big menu of options.
Meanwhile, a White House National Security Council spokesperson, quoted by Axios, said it "has been a longstanding US policy that any recognition of a Palestinian state must come through direct negotiations between the parties rather than through unilateral recognition at the UN — that policy has not changed."
Under the Obama administration, the state department did look at the issue of recognition of a Palestinian state, including after the Palestinian Authority sought recognition as a full member state at the UN in 2011.
At the time, the US State Department prepared a substantial paper on the issue, but it wasn't discussed within the administration as a serious option, according to an official briefed on the paper.
British Foreign Minister David Cameron said on Monday the UK is also considering recognizing Palestine as part of its post-war plans and as a way to give Palestinians a political horizon.