News - Middle East: A leader of the Islamic Jihad resistance movement has denounced US President Joe Biden’s visit to the Middle East as “an unfortunate and unpleasant event” for the Palestinian nation and cause, saying it will not bring any good to the Muslim and Arab world.

“This unpleasant trip does not offer any benefits to the Palestinian issue, and we do not care about it at all. The sole purpose of the trip is to build up the Israeli and US dominance over the Arab countries, and plunder their national wealth and resources,” Ahmed al-Mudallal said in an interview with the Arabic-language Palestine Today news agency on Wednesday.

Mudallal added that Biden's trip to Bethlehem, where he is expected to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, will not be beneficial for the Palestinian issue and will only serve the occupying Israeli regime.

He noted that another goal of the US president’s regional tour was to completely liquidate the Palestinian issue, legitimize the occupying Israeli regime in the Middle East, and propagate Iranophobia so that Persian Gulf Arab states will remain dependent on Washington and the Tel Aviv regime.

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The Islamic Jihad leader highlighted that Biden also seeks to push Arab countries towards normalization and establishment of diplomatic ties and security relations with Israel.

Mudallal finally called on officials from the Palestinian Authority not to meet with Biden, stressing that any meeting or talks with Americans, who fully support the Israeli regime, will destroy the Palestinian cause.

‘Biden's trip in line with Israeli aggression against Palestinian nation’

The political bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in a statement on Wednesday said Biden's visit to the region is in line with increasing attacks against Palestinians, and aimed at forming a coalition against regional nations, resistance movements and the Palestinian people.

The PFLP then called on all Palestinians and freedom-loving people of the Muslim world to express their fierce opposition to the trip, both at national and international levels.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement said in a statement that Biden’s Middle East visit was in the interests of the Israeli regime and detrimental to the Palestinian cause.

“The regional tour is aimed at driving more wedges among states, creating new alliances in support of the Zionist regime and its expansionist policies, and liquidating the resistance movements of the Muslim world,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem stated.

“All the trips of former US presidents to the region focused on advancing the interests of the occupying regime, and were meant to paint a rather unrealistic picture of Israel’s nature. They stopped short of exposing hostile Israeli actions against our nation.”

Qassem said that attempts to boost ties between Israel and the Arab world and forge military coalitions, which would include Israel, pose a significant danger to the Palestinian issue and are detrimental to the national interests of the entire region.

The Hamas spokesman demanded stronger relations and unity among countries, political factions and movements opposed to the policies of the Tel Aviv regime and the United States.

'Great Zionist': Biden lands in occupied territories

Biden landed in the Israeli-occupied territories on the first day of his visit to the Middle East on Wednesday.

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Arriving on Air Force One at Ben Gurion airport, he was warmly greeted by Israeli officials. In a speech later, he described the US connection with the Tel Aviv regime as “bone-deep.”

The US president also received a briefing on Israel's “Iron Dome” and new “Iron Beam” missile systems, according to reports.

Biden will be spending two days in al-Quds for talks with Israeli regime officials before he meets Mahmoud Abbas on Friday in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli prime minister Yair Lapid described Biden as a “great Zionist."

“Your relationship with Israel has always been personal,” Lapid said, calling Biden “one of the best friends Israel has ever known”.