he short ride that takes President Biden from Jerusalem to Bethlehem passes an enormous mural of a smiling woman, wearing a flak jacket, yellow paint giving highlights to her chestnut hair.                                                      

The painting depicts the Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, shot to death in May, probably by Israeli forces. The Biden administration’s reaction — a muted condemnation, an inconclusive investigation — is the latest in a long list of grievances Palestinians have with the current U.S. government.

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For decades, Middle East diplomacy has usually revolved around the Palestinian demand for statehood and how to obtain it.

Yet, in Biden’s four-day trip this week to Israel, the occupied West Bank and Saudi Arabia, his only meeting with a Palestinian government leader is seen as little more than a courtesy call. And making peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians isn’t on Biden’s to-do list. Instead, the trip is focusing on Iran and regional security.

Upon arriving here on Wednesday, Biden said he continued to support the two-state solution — the concept of an independent Palestinian country sitting alongside Israel. But, the president conceded, such a historic step won’t happen “in the near term.”

In a later news conference, Biden repeated his long-held position that “Israel must remain an independent, democratic Jewish state."

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