MIDDLE EAST: NETANYAHU, ‘THANKS TO BIDEN FOR THE SUPPORT, TALKED TO HIM 6 TIMES’
“I have spoken to my friend Joe Biden six times” since the beginning of the military escalation and “thank him” for the support given to Israel. The American president “understood Israel’s need to defend itself”. This was stated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking in Tel Aviv after the ceasefire came into effect.
Israel-Hamas, the truce holds. First night without clashes in Gaza
It has been in effect since 2 am and seems to hold up the truce reached with the mediation of Egypt between Israel and Hamas after eleven days of battle. Until dawn no rocket launches were reported from the Gaza Strip in the direction of Israel and, reports the Times of Israel, there are no reports of Israeli raids in the Hamas-controlled Palestinian enclave. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced in a tweet that he will travel “to the region in the next few days” for talks with Israel’s chief diplomat, Gabi Ashkenazi, with Israeli, Palestinian and regional leaders.
Hamas claimed “victory” and thousands of people, according to Jazeera, went out to the streets to celebrate the ceasefire in the Palestinian Territories. “Today the resistance declares victory over the enemies,” said Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’ number two in Gaza, as reported by the Jerusalem Post.
The Times of Israel speaks of thousands of people gathered this morning in Khan Yunis, in the south of the Strip, outside the home of Mohammed Deif, head of the armed wing of Hamas. For Ali Barakeh, of Islamic Jihad, the truce is a defeat for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a “victory for the Palestinian people”.
The toll of nearly two weeks of hostilities, which began on May 10, speaks of 232 Palestinians killed in Israeli raids and 12 deaths in Israel due to rockets launched from Gaza. In the past few hours, with a tweet, the UN envoy for the Middle East, Tor Wennesland, welcomed “the ceasefire between Gaza and Israel”, offered condolences “to the victims of violence and their loved ones” and thanked “Egypt and Qatar for the efforts made, in close contact with the UN, to restore calm “.
“Now – he added – the work of building Palestine can begin”. And the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, in a series of tweets thanked US president Joe Biden “for his role” for the success of the Egyptian ceasefire initiative.
Joe biden speaks on TV, claims “intense diplomatic work” and announces the truce between Israel and Hamas. Will Hamas stay there? Because it is true that he signed the ceasefire but with a warning: “Our rockets are not finished”. For Benjamin Netanyahu there will be “calm for calm”. The implication is that the first to pull the trigger also triggers the other. Who will be the Israeli prime minister with whom Biden has to negotiate? The American Democrats have always been in favor of the ‘two-state solution’, the problem is that, with Hamas and with the turbulent political situation in Israel, it is difficult to arrive at a solution to the puzzle. In any case, Biden has achieved a result: he stops the wave of disappointment from the liberal wing of his party and relaunches the role of the United States in a wider position than that of Donald Trump.
Biden has always supported Israel’s right to defend itself (“The United States fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself against the indiscriminate attacks by Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza that have killed innocent civilians”) and stresses that Hamas cannot be a interlocutor (“We will work in partnership with the Palestinian National Authority and not with Hamas”).
But there is a new fact, the White House is looking for a solution that also includes the Arabs, keeps the Palestinians inside and does so through a key figure, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, general, artillery expert, president of Egypt, publicly thanked “for his role behind the scenes”. Biden solved the crisis not in Washington, not in Jerusalem, but in Cairo, with a side game of Paris and Amman, a link with Emmanuel Macron and the king of Jordan.
The Abrahamic Agreements signed by Trump do not touch each other, they represent a turning point that Biden himself recognized in unsuspecting times, but the ability of this president, who is surprising and has been underestimated, is to recover some fees of pre-Obama international politics. Less rhetoric, fewer declarations, fewer utopias, more moderation, more realism, more attention to balance in the field (“We operate silently by leveraging diplomacy”).
In this game of silence, the key role is played by Tony Blinken who calls from Greenland, monitors, never turns off the radar and has his bags ready for the Middle East. Biden is a good insurance policy for Israel too, because if the Abrahamic pact is not touched, all this is possible. And a pragmatic man like Israeli President Reuven Rivlin likes old Joe from the White House. No extremism, no concessions to Hamas terrorists. A position that allows the flexibility needed to form the next government.
Who won? The easiest answer would be none, because Hamas remains in its command post in Gaza, Israel always has the enemy in front of it, but in reality, surprisingly after the initial delay, a position of the American administration has emerged. , gradualist, patient to the exasperation of some, sensitive to the military problem of Israel, but with a term placed on the Jewish state on the military campaign. He started hesitating, ends well. Biden didn’t win either, but he sure didn’t lose.
Now the dilemma is what to do. And here the American president will try what all the Democrats have tried, with a somewhat old-fashioned method, not obamiamo, not with clenched fists in front of the crowd in Cairo, not with a hymn to the Arab Springs: “The States remain committed to working with the UN and other international partners to rapidly relaunch humanitarian assistance and lead international support to the people of Gaza and its reconstruction “. The ceasefire “is an opportunity to make progress”, says Biden. Will he succeed? The truce is a great result, enough to induce him to break the silence, to talk about the conflict between Hamas and Israel and to sign the ceasefire tonight. A respite usually leads to two possible avenues. Peace or war. After 11 days of bombing, Biden collects the truce and works for peace.