Will Washington Pressure Tel Aviv to End the War in Gaza?

By Kaniz Fatma, New Age Islam 19 December 2023 The Israel-Palestine Conflict Can Only Be Resolved Through a Two-State Solution Main Points 1. The US is urging Israel to end large-scale fighting by the end of the year, amid concerns about public sentiment shifting against Israel due to Gaza civilian deaths 2. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue fighting until Hamas is eliminated, asserting Israel's security over Gaza, and voicing disagreement with Washington on post-war Gaza management 3. A survey of Israelis reveals that 43% disagree with Netanyahu's handling of Biden, while 36% support his actions 4. Dmitry Polyansky, Russia's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, expressed concern over the Gaza massacre and hope for an end, acknowledging the UN's inability to make decisions ----- Representative Image ----- On Thursday, December 14, the White House spokesperson stated that the US wants the conflict between Israel and Hamas to end "as soon as possible." Meanwhile, during his recent visit to Israel, Jake Sullivan, the US National Security Advisor, put pressure on the Netanyahu government to scale back its aggressive military campaign and concentrate on targeted operations while he was recently in Israel. "The Biden administration wants the Israeli army to end the current phase of "violent" fighting in Gaza within weeks," Sullivan said in a meeting with senior Israeli diplomats. The New York Times reported in a press report that the United States is pressuring Israel to end the large-scale fighting by the end of the year. The report claims that the administration intends for the next phase of the battle to be centred around smaller units of elite Israeli forces that will enter densely populated areas of Gaza to conduct targeted missions aimed at locating, capturing, or killing Hamas leaders, freeing hostages, and demolishing Hamas tunnels before leaving. This week, US President Joe Biden also issued a warning, stating that the large number of civilian deaths in Gaza is turning public sentiment against Israel. According to American officials, the White House is working behind closed doors to speed up the end of the war's high-intensity phase. Before leaving for Jerusalem, Jake Sullivan declared at a "Wall Street Journal" event that: He will call on Israeli authorities to "move to a different phase from the type of high-intensity operations we see today" and address a timeline for ending the conflict. "There will be a transition to another phase of this war, a phase that focuses in more precise ways and relies on intelligence information to target Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip," he added at a press conference in Jerusalem. The Israeli war aims to kill or capture the most significant Hamas figures in Gaza, including Yahya Sinwar, the organization's leader, Muhammad Deif, a military wing official who planned the October 7 attack, and Marwan Issa, the second man in the field leadership of Hamas. Sullivan held meetings in Israel after it was reported that the Israeli army had distributed leaflets in Gaza, offering substantial rewards for information about the whereabouts of senior Hamas leaders: $100,000 for anyone with information about the whereabouts of military commander Mohammed Deif, and $400,000 for Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Hamas political organisation. Sullivan stated that on Thursday, December 14, he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the war cabinet, and military officers to discuss the timing of the changeover to the second phase of the conflict in Gaza. "There will be ongoing intense discussions between the United States and Israel. The question is exactly when this will happen and under what circumstances," he continued. However, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Galant swiftly refuted Sullivan's assertions, saying that he had informed Sullivan that the conflict would go "for several months." According to a statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, "I told our American friends - our heroic fighters have not fallen in vain. From the deep pain of their falling, we are more determined than ever to continue to fight until Hamas is eliminated - until absolute victory". In addition, Netanyahu said that Israel should continue to have "overall security responsibility" over the Strip and that there is a "disagreement" with Washington regarding how to run Gaza following the war. However, according to a survey of Israelis done the day before Sullivan arrived, the majority of respondents disapproved of the way Netanyahu handled US-Israeli relations during the war. Approximately 43% of respondents to an online poll conducted by "Maariv" and "The Jerusalem Post" disagree with Netanyahu's treatment of Biden, while 36% support his actions. Jake Sullivan made an effort to correct the embarrassing situation that arose from his remarks contradicting those made by the Netanyahu government. In an interview with Israeli News Channel 12, he declared: "There is no contradiction between stating that the fighting will take months and stating that different stages will occur at different times during those months, such as the shift from high-intensity operations to more targeted operations. Israel will continue to commit military resources to the pursuit of Sinwar, Deif, and Issa, three of the most prominent Hamas figures, for the foreseeable future, but it is not known how long this will take. When asked if the US might "raise the stop signal," Sullivan responded, "I am not here to lecture or dictate conditions". Israel is a collaborator and friend. We converse, sit, and consult like friends. Speaking as a friend, President Biden converses with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Our task involves analysing the perceived benefits and drawbacks of different approaches from a tactical and strategic standpoint. For his part, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby reiterated that Washington does not impose conditions on Israel and that Gallant's timing corresponds with prior remarks made by Israeli officials. Sullivan nevertheless questioned Israeli officials about the timing of their attack on the Gaza Strip while he was in Israel. Jake Sullivan met with Palestine's president, Mahmoud Abbas, after moving from Jerusalem to Ramallah, to discuss efforts to promote calm in the West Bank. These included continuous measures to prevent terrorism and incitement, as well as recent actions taken to counter excessive settler violence against Palestinians. Abbas, in response, emphasised that "the Strip is an integral part of the Palestinian state," calling for a stop to Israeli military operations in Gaza "through an immediate ceasefire" and avoiding harm to people during combat. Israel has been killing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip for over two months, killing roughly 20,000 of them—half of them were women and children—and wounding over 50,000 more civilians. The Netanyahu government has not kept any of the promises it made before the aggression began. It was unable to liberate the hostages except through negotiation, and it was unable to kill or arrest any of the leaders of the Islamic resistance in the Gaza Strip. On the other hand, Israeli government representatives claimed to have killed 7,000 Hamas fighters, detained hundreds more, and taken precautions against civilian casualties, such as issuing safe-area maps. Nevertheless, there is more to the tragedy than meets the eye, as noted by Philippe Lazzarini, the director of UNRWA, who made this observation during a Geneva press conference: "Everywhere you go, people feel despair, hunger, and terror." We are on the verge of a potential collapse. We might be at our limit. Why? because civic order is collapsing at an increasing rate. When Lazzarini stated, "I did not hear about Hamas hijacking any trucks belonging to the United Nations, or UNRWA, as Israel claims," he disproved Israel's fabrications in an attempt to stop supplies from reaching Gaza. But as head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, noted during a Geneva press conference, there is more to the tragedy than meets the eye: “Everywhere you look, is congested with makeshift shelters. Everywhere you go, people are desperate, hungry and terrified. People – and this is also something completely new – people are stopping aid trucks, taking the food, and eating it right away. This is how desperate and hungry they are. I witnessed this firsthand. Just to re-explain, because it is difficult to comprehend, because of the immensity of the needs, and because of the little aid trickling into Gaza. It is becoming more and more difficult to reach our shelters, which are overcrowded, because outside you have tens of thousands of people who are desperately in the same kind of need. They also need to be supplied and assisted. This has nothing to do with aid diversion. This has to do with a total despair that people are expressing in the Gaza Strip. Hunger is something people in Gaza have never known before. But hunger has now emerged over the last few weeks and we meet more and more people who haven’t eaten for one, two or three days. And this is the reason why, we see people stopping sometimes trucks, downloading and eating on the spot. Now, let me say a few words on the safety in Gaza. As of today, we have 135 UNRWA staff who have been killed since the beginning of the war. And you’ve heard me many times say: no place has been spared, not even the places that normally should be protected by the laws of war. I was absolutely horrified yesterday when I saw a video circulating of a UNRWA school being blown up in northern Gaza. Schools, medical and UN facilities are not and should never, ever be a target. Unfortunately, in Gaza, they have quite often become just that. We have, since the beginning of the war, recorded when it comes to United Nations (UNRWA) premises about 150 situations where our premises have been hit directly or indirectly. This has led to the killing of more than 270 people, and the injury of more than 1,000.” (https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/remarks-unrwa-commissioner-general-philippe-lazzarini-geneva-press) By saying, "I did not hear about Hamas hijacking any trucks belonging to the United Nations, or UNRWA, as Israel claims," Lazzarini refuted the lies that Israel used to prevent supplies from getting to Gaza. In a related context, Dmitry Polyansky, Russia's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, stated in a television interview that everyone is troubled by the situation in Gaza and that we all want to put an end to the massacre and assist the Gazan people. However, we are unable to make judgements through the UN, which ought to have made Israel cease its activities. He emphasised, nevertheless, that nobody is giving up and that we must keep pressuring Americans and shaping public opinion. and this issue influenced our vote in the UN General Assembly, where 153 nations took part in the cease-fire proposal. Given that this is a significant statement about American views on the ongoing conflict, it will be challenging for them to ignore. Many commentators have pointed out that the Americans feel more and more pressured because of their unrestrained endorsement of the crimes against humanity committed in Gaza by the Netanyahu regime. America will finally be forced to demand an immediate cessation of the military operation, stop backing Israel's efforts, and put pressure on Israel to hold negotiations. The two-state solution is the only option to escape the terrible disaster that everyone is currently experiencing. ----- Kaniz Fatma is a classic Islamic scholar and a regular columnist for New Age Islam. 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