Gaza conflict forces Biden’s policy priorities to reorder
US President Joe Biden took office in January determined to focus his time and energy on the coronavirus pandemic and economic downturn reception and large challenges like China, Russia and Iran abroad.
But after a Gaza conflict that required intensive behind-the-scenes US diplomacy, his aides are having to reorder their priorities as they seek to stabilize an Israel-Hamas ceasefire, craft a reconstruction aid plan for the Palestinians and stop a recurrence of what became Biden’s first policy crisis.
The focus, one US official said, is on “what would come next, with an eye fixed towards moving beyond the violence … in order that we do all we will to attenuate the probabilities that we discover ourselves back here in five years or two years.”
The administration’s more activist tone may be a clear departure from the stand-back approach that marked the primary few months in office for a president reluctant to tackle the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which confounded the peacemaking efforts of his recent predecessors.
He still has shown no immediate interest in plunging into a replacement bid to revitalize long-dormant peace efforts at a time when most analysts see little or no prospect for successful negotiations.
But there are growing signs of renewed US engagement now that the rocket fire from Gaza and Israeli bombardments appear to possess ceased. This comes after Biden faced heavy pressure to require on a more assertive role – also as a stronger line with Israel – from progressive Democrats whose support was crucial to his 2020 election victory.
Following what US officials described as round-the-clock diplomatic contacts that helped achieve a ceasefire deal on Thursday, Biden is dispatching Secretary of State Antony Blinken to satisfy with Israeli, Palestinian and regional leaders in coming days on his first visit to the center East.
Major aid package
Topping the list folks tasks are going to be to assemble major humanitarian and reconstruction aid for Gaza. After days of Israeli air strikes, Gaza officials said 16,800 homes had been damaged, and residents were receiving only three or four hours of power each day . Palestinian officials put the value of reconstruction within the tens of many dollars.
Biden said on Thursday the us would run through the United Nations and with other international stakeholders which such assistance would be coordinated with the Palestinian Authority, Hamas’ rival, which governs only in parts of the occupied West Bank . Hamas is deemed a terrorist organization within the West and by Israel, which the militants have vowed to destroy.
US officials said the administration was preparing an assistance package and announcements are expected soon. that might be additionally to the $235 million in US aid to the Palestinians announced in April, restarting funding for the United Nations agency supporting refugees and restoring other assistance stop by then-President Donald Trump.
Another move into account aimed toward repairing ties with the Palestinians that each one but collapsed during Trump’s tenure would be reopening the US consulate in East Jerusalem that served the Palestinians and which Trump closed, any individual near the matter said, consistent with Reuters.
At an equivalent time, the Biden administration is looking to leverage the so-called Abraham Accords, agreements reached under Trump for normalization of relations between Israel and Gulf neighbors Bahrain and therefore the United Arab Emirates also as Morocco and Sudan, to assist facilitate contacts between Israel and therefore the Palestinians, US officials said.
Many Palestinians say they felt betrayed by their Arab brethren for agreeing deals with Israel without demanding progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state.
“What we’ve learned from the Abraham Accords is that once you ignore the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in doing this, that not only does it dim the prospects for negotiations, but it actually has the likelihood of adding another spark,” the US official said.
Any effort to draw a link between Israel’s normalization with Arab states and therefore the latest violence would likely be rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Biden spoke to him sixfold during ceasefire negotiations, and though the right-wing leader, who was near Trump, ultimately agreed to halt air strikes, they continue to be at odds over the Iran nuclear deal and other issues.
Progressive Democrats said they were pleased with the ceasefire but called on the Biden administration to figure towards a longer-term solution.
“We can repose on this progress by addressing the basis causes of the violence, and work towards a two-state solution, and an end to the blockade & occupation, while pressing for an enduring peace for Israelis & Palestinians,” US Representative Ro Khanna wrote on Twitter.
Pressure on the Biden administration is additionally building internationally.
At the United Nations , a senior Arab diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said “immediate engagement with the heavy weight” of the US administration was now needed within the “right parameters” to resume broader efforts to realize peace.
There has even been talk about revitalizing the center East quartet of mediators – a longtime grouping of the us , Russia, the ecu Union and therefore the United Nations that was little used during the Trump years – to undertake to coax the Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table.
But analysts hold out little hope for any major diplomatic initiative anytime soon.
