Whether it takes a week, a month, or longer, there will eventually be a ceasefire. But that is when the hard work should begin rather than end. Instead of reallocating resources to manage new or bigger crises down the road, the Biden administration should think in preventive terms. This means addressing the root causes of the current violence and not simply its symptoms—most notably the festering wounds in East Jerusalem and especially Gaza, where the status quo was already intolerable. This need not involve a massive investment of time and resources, but it will take some.

The administration is right to conclude that conditions are not ripe for negotiations, but there is much that can be done to help improve conditions on the ground and prevent future bouts of violence like the one we are in now. First and foremost, the Gaza blockade must be lifted. The United States should work with Israel, Egypt, the United Nations, and other regional and international partners to develop a clear pathway and timetable for lifting the blockade on Gaza. In East Jerusalem, the administration should make clear to the Israelis, publicly and privately, that it considers East Jerusalem to be occupied territory and that it opposes pending and future evictions of Palestinians from their homes as well as Israeli settlement activity more generally. The administration should also press Israel to reopen Palestinian civic, political, and cultural institutions in East Jerusalem as well as allow Palestinians in Jerusalem to participate in any future elections as per previous arrangements. If even these modest steps are deemed too politically costly or risky for the United States, then there is no hope of preventing future outbreaks of violence much less a two-state solution.

The Biden administration is fond of saying that Israelis and Palestinians both “deserve equal measures of freedom, security, dignity and prosperity.” This is a noble and ultimately achievable goal. But the reality today is that only one side, Israel, enjoys a reasonable measure of all of these, while Palestinians enjoy virtually none of any of them. Until we can begin to address the massive deficit in freedom, security, dignity, and prosperity that exists for Palestinians, it will only be a matter of time before another horrendous war in Gaza or the next explosion in Jerusalem. If the United States cannot be part of the solution then it will continue to be part of the problem.

Khaled Elgindy is a senior fellow and director of the Program on Palestine and Palestinian-Israeli Affairs at the Middle East Institute and the author of the book, Blind Spot: America and the Palestinians, from Balfour to Trump, published by Brookings Institution Press in April 2019.

Image: Reuters.