Do you agree that the US is Israel s accomplice not a ceasefire mediator ?
On July 21, 2006, during the 34-day Israeli attack on Lebanon that resulted in the killing of 1,200 people, United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated that “an immediate ceasefire without political conditions does not make sense”.
During a press briefing, the secretary stated in answer to a journalist's inquiry that she had “no interest in diplomacy for the sake of returning Lebanon and Israel to the status quo ante”.
Furthermore, apart from attempting to postpone a cease-fire, the United States also hastened the delivery of precision targeted bombs to Israel to aid in the mass slaughter.
Only two and a half years later, in response to the Israeli military's actions over a 22-day period in December 2008 and January 2009 that resulted in the massacre of about 1,400 Palestinians, Rice resumed her efforts to oppose a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
In this scenario, Rice asserted that the United States was “working toward a ceasefire that would not allow a re-establishment of the status quo ante where Hamas can continue to launch rockets out of Gaza,” with the clearly ‘’more serious issue’’ being Hamas's mostly useless rockets rather than the massacre of 1,400 Palestinians by the Israeli army.
15 years later, Israel is engaged in a clear and deliberate act of genocide in the Gaza Strip. This approach is undeniably more efficient in eliminating the “status quo ante"—particularly if we interpret "status quo ante" to refer to Gaza and its population. With the number of confirmed deaths among Palestinians now over 40,000 and indications that the actual death toll could be significantly higher, the only non-genocidal course of action is to implement an immediate ceasefire.
President Joe Biden has frequently emphasized the need for a similar ceasefire, but it is difficult to end a war after approving an additional $20 billion in weapons transfers to the group responsible for killing almost 17,000 Palestinian children since October.
Given that the United States is widely believed to be a de facto belligerent in the Gaza war, its credentials as a supposed mediator of a ceasefire are seriously questionable. According to The New York Times, the United States has dedicated significant resources to locate Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, similar to Israel. The US has not only supplied Israel with ground-penetrating radar but has also assigned its own intelligence organizations to intercept Mr. Sinwar's communications.
The Times cites White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan regarding the United States increased involvement in the intensive pursuit of Sinwar. Sullivan states:
“We’ve had people in Israel sitting in the room with the Israelis working this problem set. And obviously we have a lot of experience hunting high-value targets”.
However, actively ''hunting'' the head of the organization that one claims to be negotiating a ceasefire with does not enhance one's credibility as a mediator.
According to the Times article, US officials believe that the death or capture of Sinwar would give Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "a way to claim a significant military victory and potentially make him more willing to end military operations in Gaza."- This argument is certainly most compelling, supporting the notion of extrajudicial assassination.
Netanyahu has no genuine intention of truly "ending" anything, regardless of Sinwar's fate. The Israeli prime minister believes that Israel has the right to resume hostilities against Hamas, regardless of any ceasefire deal, which undermines the overall objective.
The Times of Israel stated that US officials continued to emphasize the need for "progress" in ceasefire negotiations. However, Israel's Channel 12 news discovered that the ''thorny issues'' had been temporarily put aside: “The network said American mediators hope to reach agreements on other matters first, such as Israel’s ability to veto the release of some Palestinian security prisoners and exile others.”
The “thorny” stuff includes matters like whether Israel should be allowed to keep occupying the entire length of Gaza’s border with Egypt after the war. This issue would be “left to the very end of talks, according to the [Channel 12] report, which quoted officials saying they don’t believe Hamas chief Sinwar will budge on the Gaza-Egypt border unless he feels the [Israeli military] is closing in on him,” The Times of Israel reported.
According to the diplomatic delusions of White House national security spokesperson John Kirby, intentionally stalling negotiations to maintain control over the remaining parts of the Gaza Strip is seen as "constructive" talks.
Meanwhile, the genocide continues unabated, with the Israeli soldiers systematically causing terror and starvation on the civilian population. The city of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza is currently facing restrictions on access to water and humanitarian aid. Israel's insane evacuation demands have once again compelled the United Nations to cease operations.
Undoubtedly, Israel's practice of instructing Palestinians to evacuate an area and subsequently bombing them upon compliance is far from being "constructive."
The New York Times report on US involvement in the ''hunt'' for Sinwar cites a high-ranking Israeli official emphasizing the ''priceless'' significance of US intelligence help. However, as the United States prolongs its support for Israel's efforts to completely destroy the status quo ante in Gaza, disregarding any notions of human decency and morality, the global community will ultimately suffer the consequences.