Biden set to meet Crown Prince amid criticism

President Biden is in East Jerusalem, also part of the occupied Palestinian territories. It’s the first time a sitting US president has gone to that part of the city outside of the old city.

What we’re going to see from the US on this part of the trip, as President Biden spends a few hours meeting Palestinians, is going to be a big aid package – also $200m for the UN agency that looks after Palestinian refugees and some other good will gestures.

When he comes to Bethlehem to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at his headquarters, it’s going to be a lot more about the politics.

President Biden’s administration has tried to mend ties that were broken under President Trump with the Palestinians. He’s spoken of his own personal commitment to the idea of the two state solution – that’s creating an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel – as a way to end the long standing conflict here.

He says that can’t be seen in the near future as the conditions are not right on either side.

There’s a lot of frustration from Palestinian perspective when you talk to people here about that. The idea of a viable state is something that is diminishing all the time in their view.

Things are going to be different with President Biden but a lot still has to be done to mend this relationship.

The meeting with Prince Mohammed has infuriated some of the US president’s own Democratic Party, who want him to use the summit to challenge Saudi Arabia on its human rights record.

Last week, Adam Schiff, a senior House Democrat, said he wouldn’t have visited the country or met Prince Mohammed if he were in Mr Biden’s position.

“This is someone who butchered an American resident, cut him up into pieces and in the most terrible and premeditated way,” Mr Schiff said. “Until Saudi Arabia makes a radical change in terms of (its) human rights, I wouldn’t want anything to do with him.”

Mr Biden has defended his decision, telling reporters earlier this week in Jerusalem that his “position on Khashoggi has been so clear, if anyone doesn’t understand it in Saudi Arabia or otherwise, they haven’t been around me for a while”.

The US president said his Middle East tour – where he will also meet Egyptian, Iraqi and Jordanian leaders – offers an opportunity to fix the “mistake” of “walking away from our influence in the Middle East”, an apparent attack on the policies of former President Donald Trump.