On June 13, Hamas responded to continued heckling by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the US proposal to stop the Israeli massacre in Gaza. The group said that it “dealt positively… with the latest proposal and all proposals to reach a ceasefire agreement.” Hamas added, by contrast, that “while Blinken continues to talk about Israel’s approval of the latest proposal, we have not heard any Israeli official express his approval.”
The full details of the US proposal have not yet been announced, but a halt to Israeli attacks and the release of hostages in the first phase would lead to further negotiations for a more sustainable ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in the second phase. phase. But there is no guarantee that the second round of negotiations will succeed.
As former Israeli Labor Prime Minister Ehud Barak told Israel Radio on June 3: “How do you think (Gaza military commander) Sinwar will react when he is told: ‘But be quick, because we still have to kill you, after you bring back… Everything hostage?
Meanwhile, as Hamas pointed out, Israel has not publicly accepted the terms of the latest US ceasefire proposal, so it only has the word of US officials that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has secretly agreed to. Publicly, Netanyahu still insists on his commitment to the complete destruction of Hamas and its ruling authority in Gaza, and has already escalated ferocious Israeli attacks in central and southern Gaza.
The fundamental disagreement that the smoke and mirrors of President Joe Biden and Secretary Blinken cannot hide is that Hamas, like every Palestinian, wants a true end to the genocide, while the Israeli and American governments do not.
Either Biden or Netanyahu could end the carnage very quickly if they wanted to — Netanyahu by agreeing to a permanent ceasefire, or Biden by ending or suspending US arms shipments to Israel. Israel could not have fought this war without American military and diplomatic support. But Biden refuses to use his influence, despite admitting in an interview that it is “reasonable” to conclude that Netanyahu is prolonging the war for his own political advantage.
The United States continues to send weapons to Israel to continue the slaughter in violation of the ceasefire order of the International Court of Justice. Bipartisan US leaders invited Netanyahu to address a joint session of the US Congress on July 24, even as the International Criminal Court reviews a request from its prosecutor to issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and murder.
The United States appears intent on sharing Israel's self-imposed isolation from voices calling for peace around the world, including a large majority of countries in the UN General Assembly and Security Council.
But perhaps this is appropriate, as the United States bears a great deal of responsibility for this isolation. Through decades of unconditional support for Israel, and by using its veto power in the UN Security Council dozens of times to protect Israel from international accountability, the United States has enabled successive Israeli governments to pursue blatantly criminal policies and turn a blind eye to growing anger against Israel. People and countries around the world.
Israel's actual expansion has been facilitated by the United States' monopoly on mediation between Israel and Palestine, which it has vigorously opposed and defended against the United Nations and other countries.
This pattern of American support for Israel dates back to its founding, when Zionist leaders in Palestine launched a well-planned operation to seize an area of land much larger than that allocated by the United Nations to their new state in the partition plan approved by the Palestinians and neighboring countries. States were already strongly opposed.
The massacres, bulldozed villages and ethnic cleansing of between 750,000 and 1 million people in the Nakba have been meticulously documented, despite an extraordinary propaganda campaign to convince two generations of Israelis, Americans and Europeans that those massacres never happened.
The United States was the first country to grant Israel effective recognition on May 14, 1948, and played a leading role in the 1949 United Nations vote to recognize the new state of Israel within its illegally seized borders. President Eisenhower had the wisdom to oppose Britain, France, and Israel in their war to seize the Suez Canal in 1956, but Israel's seizure of the occupied Palestinian territories in 1967 convinced U.S. leaders that it could be a valuable military ally in the Middle East.
America's unconditional support for Israel's illegal occupation and annexation of more and more territory over the past 57 years has corrupted Israeli politics and emboldened extremist and racist Israeli governments to continue expanding their genocidal territorial ambitions. Netanyahu's Likud party and government now fully embrace Israel's grand plan to annex all of occupied Palestine and parts of other countries, wherever and whenever new opportunities for expansion arise.
Israel's actual expansion has been facilitated by the United States' monopoly on mediation between Israel and Palestine, which it has vigorously opposed and defended against the United Nations and other countries. The irreconcilable contradiction between the conflicting roles played by the United States as Israel's strongest military ally and the main mediator between Israel and Palestine is clear to the entire world.
The United States consistently vetoes all but its own proposals for Israel and Palestine in the UN Security Council, even when its proposals are deliberately meaningless, ineffective, or counterproductive.
But as we see, even in the midst of the genocide in Gaza, the rest of the world and the UN have failed to break this American monopoly and establish legitimate and impartial mediation by the UN or neutral countries that respect the lives and humanity of Palestinians. And civil rights.
Qatar brokered a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in November 2023, but has since been outmaneuvered by US moves to prolong the carnage through deceptive proposals, cynical positions and the use of its veto power in the Security Council. The United States consistently vetoes all but its own proposals for Israel and Palestine in the UN Security Council, even when its proposals are deliberately meaningless, ineffective, or counterproductive.
The UN General Assembly is united in support of Palestine, voting almost unanimously year after year to demand an end to the Israeli occupation. One hundred and forty-four countries have recognized Palestine as a state, and only the American veto deprives it of full membership in the United Nations. The Israeli genocide in Gaza even brought shame to the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, prompting them to suspend their inherent pro-Western bias and pursue cases against Israel.
One way the countries of the world can come together to put greater pressure on Israel to end its attack on Gaza is by adopting a “Uniting for Peace” resolution in the United Nations General Assembly. This is an action that the General Assembly can take when the Security Council is prevented from working to restore peace and security because of the veto exercised by a permanent member.
If the United States still insists on continuing its complicity in international crimes committed by Israel, the General Assembly could take action against the United States as well.
Israel has shown that it is willing to ignore ceasefire resolutions issued by the General Assembly and Security Council, and an order issued by the International Court of Justice, but the “Uniting for Peace” resolution could impose sanctions on Israel for its actions, such as an arms embargo or arms embargo. Economic boycott. If the United States still insists on continuing its complicity in international crimes committed by Israel, the General Assembly could take action against the United States as well.
The General Assembly's decision would change the terms of international debate and shift the focus once again from Biden and Blinken's disinformation tactics to the urgent need to impose a permanent ceasefire that the whole world is calling for.
It is time for the United Nations and neutral countries to push Israel's partner in genocide aside, and for legitimate international authorities and mediators to take responsibility for enforcing international law, ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine and bringing peace to the Middle East.
