Joe Biden hoped he wouldn’t have to test his “America is back” maxim on the ultimate test, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Editorial by Gérald Papy, deputy editor-in-chief of Le Vif.
Joe Biden hoped that he would not have to test his “America is back” maxim on the ultimate test, the one his predecessors have faced for seventy years, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. By firing thousands of rockets at Israel since May 10 and thus provoking the IDF’s expected response, Hamas, which controls the two million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, has decided otherwise. The American democratic president, who wanted as a priority to contain the development of the Iranian nuclear complex, finds himself in an urgent obligation to extinguish the fire in the Middle East, on pain of losing on two counts. His diplomatic credibility as champion of multilateralism and his ambition as chief litigation mediator …
Joe Biden hoped that he would not have to test his “America is back” maxim on the ultimate test, the one his predecessors have faced for seventy years, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. By firing thousands of rockets at Israel since May 10 and thus provoking the IDF’s expected response, Hamas, which controls the two million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, has decided otherwise. The American democratic president, who wanted as a priority to contain the development of the Iranian nuclear complex, finds himself in an urgent obligation to extinguish the fire in the Middle East, on pain of losing on two counts. His diplomatic credibility as champion of multilateralism and his ambition as chief mediator of Iranian litigation, in addition to the involvement of the Ayatollahs of Tehran behind Palestinian Hamas, the Syrian government and the Lebanese Hezbollah. Of course, at this point, it is only hoped that the tenant of the White House will force a ceasefire between the belligerents to restore the minimum confidence required to cohabit. But even that minimal goal looks like a mountain. Both the Israeli-Palestinian context has deteriorated since the period when Joe Biden assumed the vice-presidency of Barack Obama, who had broken his teeth there. The turn that this sudden and brutal crisis has taken shows to what extent the Palestinian Authority has crumbled. The government of President Mahmoud Abbas has lost what little credibility it had left. He is overwhelmed by the radical nationalism of Hamas. It is weakened by its security cooperation with Israel from which it obtains no compensation. He is accused of evading judgment at the ballot box after canceling elections so long awaited. He has lost the trust of part of his West Bank people. Benjamin Netanyahu, who has greatly contributed to discrediting Ramallah’s rulers over his twelve consecutive years as prime minister, is now engaged in a disturbing face-to-face with Hamas. Islamic resistance movement classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, it cannot be considered, officially, as a negotiating partner. The observation is simple: more interlocutor, more dialogue. It is with this illusory conviction of a fate depending on their own will that Benjamin Netanyahu and part of the Israelis lived for four years an idyll with Donald Trump made profitable by the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital and by the establishment of diplomatic relations. with four Arab states, especially interested in the fallout from Washington for their denial. What sane Israeli could reasonably have thought that his nation would be able to enjoy lasting security and prosperity to which it legitimately aspires on the ruins of the Oslo accords, on the abandonment of a two-state solution, on the denial of the legitimate claim of the Palestinians to live as nationals of an independent country? The reminder of this inescapable reality does not come from Hamas disqualified by its extremism but from young Palestinians in East Jerusalem who can no longer survive without prospects. But if these too are not heard, the future of the region will remain bleak for at least another seventy years.
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