Biden embraces 'two states for two peoples'

Bethlehem: President Joe Biden acknowledged 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. 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.