Blame the Biden administration for mayhem in Lebanon

As the Middle East spirals out of control with a runaway train called Netanyahu acting without guardrails, the question that needs to be asked is where responsibility lies for the continued deaths of children and absence of peace; the booby-trapping of technological equipment and blowing them up in grocery stores and hospitals; and the destruction of high-rise buildings with everyone in them. And who is responsible for 180 Iranian ballistic missiles violating the air space of several Arab countries on their way to Israel?

It is not easy to blame a country as far away as the US is for what is happening in Lebanon and elsewhere in the region, but the Biden administration can longer avoid responsibility for its role as an accomplice.

Biden, who for months refused to vote for a ceasefire in Gaza (while backing one in Ukraine) finally issued a plan last June and then obtained the approval of the UN Security Council. The plan was accepted by Hamas, and Israel — which then decided to move the goalposts. The US asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to enter Rafah, and he responded by occupying the entire Philadelphi corridor on the border with Egypt —a violation of the US-sponsored Camp David agreement. What did the US do? It sent Israel more weapons.

They dispatched the head of the CIA, the secretary of state and the national security adviser to Egypt and Qatar to help negotiate a Gaza peace plan, but they were unable to change the Israeli point of view.

To make matters worse, warmonger Netanyahu sought and seems to have received Washington’s approval to decimate Hezbollah. The result was booby-trapping and blowing up pagers and walkie-talkies some of which lay around in homes, grocery stores, or hospitals. Lebanese civilians including children and medical staff were killed. But the Israeli appetite was still not satisfied because residents have been displaced from their homes on the border with Lebanon.

Again the US approved a “limited” attack on Lebanon — a reminder of Ariel Sharon’s claim in 1982 that Israel was going to occupy only about 65 km in south Lebanon, and it ended up besieging Beirut. Israel stayed as an occupying power until 1989 when it was routed by the successors of the moderate PLO, Hezbollah.

And where is the US in all this? Nowhere to be found. Biden is unable to force his own ally to agree to what it had already accepted in June — a comprehensive three-phase ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza.

Israel insists that Hezbollah is causing a nuisance to Israelis who have been forced to live in hotels rather than their homes. The now deceased leader of Hezbollah, although angry with the pager attack, continued to make his position clear: attacks from Lebanon woud stop if there was an agreement on Gaza.

If there is one thing Israelis agree on it is that Hassan Nasrallah was much more trustworthy than their own prime minister. Netanyahu himself is also counting on that, if the hostilities end in an agreement. But the problem is that the Israelis want to delink any agreement in Lebanon with Gaza.

The Israeli military escalation may on the surface be all about trying to bring peace to the north of Israel, but in reality it is a sinister move by the Israeli prime minister to accomplish his dream. After having pushed the Bush administration to take out Saddam Hussein on a fabricated accusation, the Israeli leader who persuaded Donald Trump to tear up an agreement that restricted Iran’s nuclear development now wants more: he wants a war with Iran, and knows that in that event Washington would have no choice but to defend Israel. Furthermore, when Israel assassinated on sovereign Iranian soil the very person they were negotiating with, it raised the stakes. And while Iran didn't respond directly, its ally in Lebanon did.

Fortunately, Iran and to a lesser degree Hezbollah will not be goaded into such a war, but the US  has a real problem in Lebanon and it can’t continue to stand idly by, or even send top-notch emissaries without giving them the real tools to put a stop to this craziness.

Israeli hostages, like the tens of thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel without trial or charge and being denied Red Cross visits, must be released. The Israelis must withdraw from Gaza and a sincere effort must be immediately launched to end the 57-year occupation of Palestinian territory.

The military escalation in Lebanon can be stopped quickly if the Biden administration acts decisively and uses all political means at its disposal, including an arms embargo and sanctions if needed to get the Israelis to accept a Gaza ceasefire. This would immediately end the Hezbollah attacks and both Israelis and Lebanese could return to their homes. We can go back to peace and quiet if Biden can convince Netanyahu to implement a ceasefire and begin the exchange of Palestinian prisoners and Israeli hostages.

Such decisive action would need to be followed immediately by considerable efforts to resolve the Palestine issue. The US cannot ask the parties to solve their own problems through negotiations while one side, Israel, is publicly refusing to negotiate.

The decades-old occupation and colonial settlements have now been declared illegal by the world’s top court and the UN General Assembly. It is high time to find a just and permanent solution so that the people of Israel and Palestine can live in peace.

• Daoud Kuttab is an award-winning Palestinian journalist and former Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University. He is columnist with almonitor.com and Arab News. Follow him on X @daoudkuttab and Threads @daoud.kuttab