The war on Gaza .. The Biden administration’s moves between secrecy and overt

There is no sign of success in the efforts exerted by the United States to stop the war waged by the Israeli occupation on the Gaza Strip for more than a week.

The moves of President Joe Biden’s administration seeking to stop the war left the American commentators in great confusion, and some saw that there are two parallel tracks adopted by the Biden administration. Time to eliminate what he deems necessary in the infrastructure of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). Read also In a phone conversation … Biden supports a ceasefire, and Netanyahu informs him of his determination to achieve “goal”American efforts to calm the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories Between denial and confirmation … Netanyahu asked Biden for a deadline to end the war on Gaza The Jerusalem Post: Israel has lost the battle of public opinion in light of international sympathy with the Palestinians

Ilan Goldenberg, an official in the Middle East peace negotiation team during the era of former President Barack Obama, said in a tweet, that “the Biden administration’s approach so far is moving towards secretly pressing for a ceasefire while continuing publicly to give the Israelis space to move.”

An open path and a speech in support of Israel

After the outbreak of the fighting, Washington took the initiative to send Hadi Amr, a deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, who specializes in the Arab-Israeli conflict, to work to end the fighting and meet with representatives of the Israeli parties and the Palestinian Authority led by President Mahmoud Abbas. Many observers played down the importance of Hadi Amr’s presence in the region, given that he did not occupy a high position, and because the complexities of the crisis required intervention at a higher level.

President Biden spoke with Netanyahu 3 times within four days, and two White House statements issued after the first two calls indicated that Biden “condemned the rocket attacks launched by Hamas and other terrorist groups targeting Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other Israeli areas. The president expressed his firm support for Israel’s security and rights. The project is to defend itself and its people and protect civilians at the same time.

The situation changed with the release of the White House statement on the third call that took place on Monday, which included a new indication of Biden’s support for a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians. As expected, the statement indicated that Biden affirmed what he called “the right of Israel to defend itself,” and his condemnation of what he described as the indiscriminate rocket attacks by Hamas on Israeli towns, according to the statement.

In addition to the White House, Secretary of State Tony Blinken made several phone calls in recent days with his counterparts in Israel, Egypt, Qatar, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.

Washington clearly repeated a bilateral call, the first of which was to condemn the missile attacks on Israeli cities and to show support for Israel’s right to defend itself, and the second to shyly call for an end to the violence.

A quiet secret path

Some observers indicated that the public mission of the American envoy Hadi Amr is to work to stop the fighting, while there is a secret message that Amr’s envoy to the Israelis said that Washington supports your right to self-defense and does not expect an imminent end to your campaign against Hamas in Gaza, and that Washington wants as well. Consider next steps, including the scene of a possible resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan’s tweet indicated a secret path, writing, “I spoke this morning with Israeli National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabat about the ongoing crisis, and I spoke with the Egyptian government. The United States is regularly engaged in quiet and intense diplomacy and our efforts will continue.”

I spoke this morning with Israeli National Security Advisor Meir Ben Shabbat about the ongoing crisis. I also spoke with the Government of Egypt. The United States is engaged in quiet, intensive diplomacy and our efforts will continue.

– Jake Sullivan (@ JakeSullivan46) May 17, 2021

Secretary of State Blinken also noted that “the United States is working extensively and hard behind the scenes to end the violence between Israelis and Palestinians.”

The secret path allows avoiding the display of American-Israeli differences, which deprives the Israeli prime minister of the possibility of using them to serve his own political interest and expand his future electoral fortunes.

The secret path gives the Biden administration an additional pressure card in pushing Israel to the ceasefire, as the threat to exit the secrecy of the track and the announcement of the Israeli side’s rejection of US mediation, which may serve Biden who is under widespread pressure from members of the Democratic Party in the House and Senate.

Ilan Goldenberg goes on to say that the secret path allows Biden to “assure Netanyahu that this general position of the United States cannot be maintained internationally, so if you do not go to the ceasefire, we will ultimately have to change our position in the Security Council.”

Equality between the two parties in public

There it is again in @POTUS Eid greeting last night: “We also believe Palestinians and Israelis EQUALLY deserve to live in safety and security and enjoy EQUAL measures of freedom, prosperity and democracy.”

– Martin Indyk (@Martin_Indyk) May 17, 2021

The former US ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk spoke of a change in the White House’s rhetoric towards referring to the two parties in a more balanced manner, pointing out in this context to Biden’s speech – in a speech on the occasion of the Eid celebration – about the need for the Palestinians to also live in peace and security. Indyk tweeted, “We believe that Palestinians and Israelis also deserve to live in safety and security and enjoy equal measures of freedom, prosperity and democracy.”

Indyk said that the US President’s reference to the Palestinians ’right to live in safety and peace deserves notice.

And included the Biden administration’s position publicly to prevent Washington 3 attempts by members of the Security Council to issue a statement about the burning position.

For his part, Richard Haass, a former official at the State Department and the White House, and the current head of the Council on Foreign Relations, expressed 3 goals that his country should work to achieve, first: for the United States to present a ceasefire resolution in the UN Security Council. Second: To hold a meeting with the Arab parties to pressure Hamas regarding the ceasefire. Third: For Congress to issue a bipartisan resolution calling for a ceasefire. This is not the time to talk about Middle East peace, but an important step can be taken to stop the fighting.