Why US-led Gaza truce talks are doomed to fail
https://arab.news/n7ky7
The powerful US and Israeli media machines keep claiming that Hamas is the party that consistently rejects Gaza ceasefire proposals. However, a careful reading of the group’s official statement shows that it has accepted US President Joe Biden’s earlier proposal, which the UN Security Council also approved.
The problem that has been dogging any breakthrough is a lack of trust. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been constantly moving the goalposts and always blaming Hamas for rejecting ceasefire proposals. US and Arab mediators largely begin with the proposed Israeli text and then offer it to Hamas in an effort to get the group to take the blame for its rejection. A well-known Palestinian analyst, Nasser Laham, wrote this week that, over the last 40 years, the US has failed every time it has tried to mediate between the parties in the Middle East. This is largely because America cannot be a strong ally with Israel and at the same time an honest broker.
The major sticking point at this juncture is important. Hamas, as well as all Palestinians and actually the entire world, wants this war to end. Any proposal that leaves out an end to the war and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza will ultimately be rejected.
Any proposal that leaves out an end to the war and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza will ultimately be rejected.
Daoud Kuttab
Wars end with a ceasefire that is well observed, an exchange of prisoners and a sincere effort aimed at tackling the root causes of the violence. Netanyahu, who is hobbled by a corruption case and a mandatory, neutral investigation into Oct. 7, does not want to end the war without his version of a victory, which includes the annihilation of a deep-rooted Palestinian resistance movement and the unilateral release of Israeli soldiers and civilians. The Americans and many well-respected Israeli experts and retired military officials keep telling him that this will not happen.
Unable or unwilling to force Netanyahu to accept this reality, the US has partially adopted the Israeli PM’s obstinance by offering proposals that delay a decision to end the war. The American proposal says, “trust us.” But how can Palestinians trust a country that is physically supplying the weapons that are being used against them? No wonder protesters outside the Democratic National Convention zeroed in on the need to put a stop to America’s supply of weapons to Israel if Washington wants to be accepted as an honest broker. Palestinian Hamas leaders cannot and will not trust the US because it has repeatedly failed to deliver on what it has publicly stated about wanting to end the war, while it has still signed a $20 billion military deal and continues to supply the weapons and ammunition that are being used to kill Palestinian civilians.
The US and its weak Arab negotiators have a clear path they can follow, but they have resisted it. The UNSC is the world’s top body for peace and security. It has ordered a ceasefire, but Israel refused to even pay attention to its decision. The UN Charter’s Chapter VII deals with what to do with parties that refuse to implement binding resolutions agreed by the UNSC.
The US alone is calling all the shots and is regularly only doing so after getting Israel’s approval on what is offered.
Daoud Kuttab
If the members of the UNSC are serious about wanting an end to the war, they can simply pass a resolution that details steps to this end and that does not include any vague wording about allowing the Israeli army to stay in Gaza. Such a resolution, which would include a prisoner exchange, an observation mechanism for its implementation and a path to the globally accepted two-state solution, should also include a mention of Chapter VII sanctions on any party that refuses to implement its provisions.
The US, whose president began the current process with a proposal that both Israel and Hamas accepted, should want to make sure that both parties mean what they say by agreeing on a text that the global community can support and which will end this carnage.
At present, the negotiation process that Washington participates in has little chance of success, so long as the US alone is calling all the shots and is regularly only doing so after getting Israel’s approval on what is offered. The time has come for a global ceasefire offer that is fair and that clearly includes an immediate end to the war and an Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza. Continuing the current process is playing into the hands of the Israeli prime minister, whose interests are focused on his own political survival. Allowing Israel to continue with its unending revenge war is a formula for disaster and an invitation for the widening of a conflict that everyone wants to end immediately.
- Daoud Kuttab, an award-winning Palestinian journalist, is a director of Community Media Network. X: @daoudkuttab
