2024-03-01T12:53:37+00:00
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/ US officials believe that US President Joe Biden’s recent notable attack on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “just the beginning,” according to Hebrew media.
The Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that “there are concerns in Washington that Netanyahu is undermining the prisoner negotiations for political purposes, saying that if the latter thwarts the prisoner deal that is being worked on, this will lead to a direct clash with the White House.”
American officials told the newspaper that the United States continues to push “with all its might” to complete the prisoner deal and reach a truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and warned Tel Aviv that Netanyahu could undermine the deal for political reasons related to the coalition.
The newspaper quoted the officials, who were not named, as saying that although Hamas, as a terrorist organization, “manipulates us and does not make our lives easy,” referring to the American mediators, “Israel does the same thing.”
The sources continued that this manipulation “will not deter Washington, because it is completely focused on the deal, and Netanyahu must do everything in his power to complete it,” adding: “If we reach the conclusion that Netanyahu is working to thwart the deal, that will be extremely difficult for us, and there will be no alternative to the clash.”
Biden had attacked Netanyahu on more than one occasion, which the newspaper saw as the beginning, and quoted its sources as saying, “If it turns out that Netanyahu is deliberately thwarting the deal, things will get worse, and we will hear other, more dangerous words from the American president.”
The US administration sees the prisoner deal as a necessary prelude to implementing a larger plan that will change the face of the Middle East, according to the newspaper, which added that the plan presented by US envoy Amos Hochstein includes a settlement with Lebanon, normalization between Israel and Arab countries, the start of the reconstruction of Gaza, and granting the Palestinian Authority a role in the Strip after undergoing reforms, before moving forward on the path to declaring a Palestinian state.
American sources also informed the newspaper that Washington “knows that Israel will not agree to a Palestinian state, but the talk is about a vision preceded by many steps, including those related to the fate of the Gaza Strip and the role of the Palestinian Authority in it, and therefore Washington will not allow Netanyahu to obstruct those steps in order to please Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Likud voters.”