When President Joe Biden presented a three-phased outline for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war, he said it was proposed by Israel. Questions arose as to why he was making the announcement and not Tel Aviv, and why now? The plan has been a bone of contention since it was announced on May 31.
One day after Mr. Biden’s nationally televised announcement, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—in a “wait just one second” posture—said there will be no ceasefire until Hamas, the Palestinian resistance group that Israel has been fighting, is obliterated. That detail was not in Mr. Biden’s presentation.
“Israel’s conditions for ending the war have not changed: The destruction of Hamas military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel,” Mr. Netanyahu said.
“Israel will continue to insist these conditions are met before a permanent ceasefire is put in place. The notion that Israel will agree to a permanent ceasefire before these conditions are fulfilled is a non-starter,” he added.
The first phase of the deal would be a six-week ceasefire. The second phase would be the return of remaining Israeli hostages from Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons, and the final stage, a reconstruction plan for Gaza. The U.S., Egypt, and Qatar would mediate the process.
Mr. Biden said the deal “creates a better day after” in Gaza “without Hamas in power,” and “sets the stage for a political settlement” that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians.
When Mr. Biden announced the deal, he pointedly said to Hamas that they should take it, placing the “ball in Hamas’s court.” However, a high-ranking member of Hamas’ political bureau argued that it’s Israel that is playing games concerning a ceasefire.
In remarks on June 4, Sami Abu Zuhri rejected the insistence that Hamas accepts the proposal advanced by Mr. Biden, stressing that Washington’s pressure on them is misguided. He contends it is Israel blocking an agreement. They are acting “as if it is Hamas who is hampering the deal,” which is not the case, he said, according to PressTV.ir.
A statement from Mr. Netanyahu’s office dated May 31—the same day as Mr. Biden’s announcement—said the Israeli government is united in its desire to get hostages returned as soon as possible and is working to achieve this goal.
The killing of 1,200 people and taking over 200 predominately Israeli captives in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and other Palestinian resistance groups on illegal Israeli settlements, is Israel’s oft-repeated justification to continue war.
Notwithstanding the disproportionate 37,000 Palestinians that Israel has slaughtered since Oct 8. The dire situation in Gaza has displaced 1.7 million people with some figures reporting it is closer to 1.9 million.
According to Al Jazeera, on May 30, Israeli forces also carried out raids across the occupied West Bank, hitting Ramallah and Jenin and killing a 20-year-old Palestinian man. Israeli settlers also carried out attacks on Palestinians in areas near Jericho and Nablus.
“The Prime Minister authorized the negotiating team to present a proposal to that end, which would also enable Israel to continue the war until all its objectives are achieved, including the destruction of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities,” said Mr. Netanyahu’s statement.
“The actual proposal put forward by Israel, including the conditional transition from one phase to the next, allows Israel to uphold these principles,” it continued, appearing to contradict Mr. Biden’s announcement.
If Israel presented the proposal, and if the statement issued by Mr. Netanyahu’s office is true, and Mr. Biden’s announcement had missing lines, like Israel stipulating the “destruction of Hamas’ military and governing capabilities,” it leaves to question why Mr. Biden stepped out of it.
Investigative journalist and commentator Eugene Puryear suggests Mr. Biden may have tried to catch Mr. Netanyahu by surprise in a political move driven by mounting pressure on his administration to end the war.
“The level of pressure they’re under domestically and internationally to try to bring the war to a close … is only getting more significant,” said Mr. Puryear.
It is notable, he pointed out, that Mr. Biden’s statement came days after the announcement about a massive June 8 demonstration in Washington, D.C., and nationwide on the heels of The People’s Conference For Palestine, held late May in Detroit.
In addition, several European countries joined the chorus of nations recognizing Palestine as an independent state. Then, on the resistance front, there is an uptick in Gaza solidarity efforts by the Houthis in Yemen, and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“It’s clear that Hamas and other resistance factions are still hanging on with a lot of tenacity,” said Mr. Puryear. “All those things have added up … to create a sense of urgency amongst the Biden administration,” he explained.
America’s “ironclad” backing of Israel is getting costly politically, and diminishing returns are setting in, with no clear exit out of the quagmire of war. Meanwhile, Mr. Biden’s re-election bid is not looking healthy. His support among Arab Americans has significantly declined, particularly in some key swing states.
The stubbornness of the Israelis is such that whatever negotiations were happening behind the scenes, Mr. Biden and his team probably felt the only way to bring it to a head was to expose it and place the ball more in Netanyahu’s court, said Mr. Puryear.
Both Mr. Biden and Mr. Netanyahu are on the political ropes domestically. Eight months into Israel’s bloody war and five months out before U.S. presidential elections, the intensity of backlash on the streets against U.S. complicity is not slowing down in what is genocide of Palestinians. With the approval of his handling of the crisis in the dumps to the point that he is nicknamed “Genocide Joe,” Mr. Biden is in a bind.
The politically embattled Netanyahu has serious pushback from within his coalition government, including Zionist ultra-extremists who reject any deal to end the carnage. Far-right Cabinet Ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich vehemently opposed the plan.
Mr. Ben Gvir, Israel’s Minister of National Security, objected that the details of the deal, as presented by Mr. Biden, show a deal that means the “surrender of Israel” and an end of the war without destroying Hamas.
In a statement posted June 3 on X (formerly Twitter), he warned the deal would mean a total defeat of Israel and if Mr. Netanyahu signed it, his Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) Party would dissolve the government.
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s Minister of Finance and chairman of the Religious Zionist Party, argued the same about the proposed deal. “We demand the continuation of the fighting until the destruction of Hamas and the return of all the abductees,” Mr. Smotrich posted on X.
As one of the vocal proponents of building illegal settlements and removing Palestinians, he also rejected parts of the plan that would return Gazans to the North of the Gaza Strip.
Regardless of the proposed plan, another side neither American, Israeli or Palestinian, should be considered.
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Nation of Islam and the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, has warned the nations, leaders and people of the world to consider the God of Justice.
The Minister has pointed out for years that Israel will never have any peace. He spoke on this critical topic on Feb. 25 in an address titled: “What Does Allah The Great Mahdi And The Great Messiah Have To Say About The War In The Middle East?”
“Now, Elijah Muhammad, that’s my man. That’s the man. I want you to pay attention to what he said in ‘The Fall of America’ in 1973 (pages 171-172): ‘America and England deposited their little brother, Israel, on foreign soil, Palestine, which is Arab land. They deprived the Arabs of their own land and sent them into exile.’ (It’s called a Nakba, which means a ‘catastrophe.’)
‘This injustice against the Arabs is now costing America the power and authority that she once exercised in the [Middle] East.’ (Listen to his next words.) ‘She is on her way out of the Near East,’ and ‘This means bloodshed and plenty of it,’” Minister Farrakhan stated from “The Fall of America.”
In his message, the Minister stated that America is not going to stay in the Middle East and that Israel won’t remain there either. “That’s prophecy—but I got it from the Mouth of God; and I’ll tell you how it’s going to happen and show it to you in your scriptures,” said Minister Farrakhan.
“Elijah Muhammad wrote: ‘In the Near East, there stand navies which are neither American nor British … [t]hey are there to drive America out. The skies over there are beginning to thicken with foreign planes, carrying deadly weapons, guns and bombs. They will not be satisfied as long as Israel is in Palestine.
The boil has come to a bursting point. We are in a troubled world,’ and ‘We are in a world that is now erupting,’” said Minister Farrakhan quoting words of his teacher that are now coming to fruition. (To view and study the Minister’s Saviours’ Day 2024 message, visit media.noi.org.)
