Joe Biden would then take his seat in the White House as the 46th President of the United States. The fight was a close struggle as the world has been watching. Biden addressed the US Senate with an impassioned statement, letting it be known that American interests remain closely related to Israel's.
"It's about time we stop apologizing for our support for Israel," Biden had said to the lawmakers in June 1986. "It is the best $3bn investment we make. If there weren't an Israel, the United States of America would have to invent an Israel to protect her interests in the region," he added.
In the following year, Israel proceeds to obtain $3 billion in US military assistance annually.
Many pro-Israeli advocacy organization gatherings, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as well as J Street, have been participated by Biden, a self-avowed Zionist.
His triumph over Donald Trump on Saturday from one of the toughest US presidential elections was greeted with a breath of relief from Palestinian authorities- not so for his win, but more for the defeat of Trump.
Palestinian government under Trump
Under the government of Trump, the political environment for Israelis and Palestinians dramatically changed in the last four years.
Trump's strategy recognized Israel's sovereignty among major illegal existing settlements in the occupied West Bank rather than a suggested Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with occupied East Jerusalem as its capital. The Palestinian state would contain non-contiguous counties in eastern Jerusalem and the capital of a neighborhood.
Trump also negotiated "normalization" agreements with three Arab countries who, without asking for Palestinian benefits in exchange, acknowledged Israel.
No change in US policy
President Mahmoud Abbas' special delegate, Nabil Shaath, had stated the Palestinian government is not expecting a shift in strategy in US policy towards the Palestinians.
"From what we heard from Joe Biden and his deputy Kamala Harris, I think he will be more balanced and less submissive to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - thus less harmful to us than Trump," Shaath stated.
A member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee, Hanan Ashrawi, stated that although the initial move was to "get rid of Trump and the danger he poses," Biden still was not going to be a salvation for the Palestinians.
She also had this to say: "The restoration of the Palestinian Authority's relations with the US after Biden's victory is under discussion and evaluation."
"Matters do not happen automatically," Ashrawi added. "Rather, the list of demands, interests, and positions must be determined, and there is a need for a change in many issues."
The new President and Palestinians
While Biden is a big advocate of a two-state solution, he continues to refuse to exploit US financial assistance to Israel to force it to comply with international law.
"I strongly oppose Israel's settlement policy on the West Bank," Biden had stated last year in an interview. "But the idea that we would cut off military aid to an ally, our only true, true ally in the entire region, is absolutely preposterous."
Even more so, Biden has reflected the Trump government by stabilizing the refurbishment of financial assistance to the PA only if it decides to stop government benefits to Palestinian prisoners' family members and suspected Palestinian attackers murdered by Israelis.
