Joe Biden waited for the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Gaza to speak solemnly for the first time since the conflict began on Thursday, May 20.
While his spokesperson, Jen Psaki, did not cease during the crisis to highlight the effectiveness of diplomacy carried out behind the scenes, the President of the United States welcomed the outcome found on Thursday. before paying full tribute to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, the traditional mediator with Hamas, who is on Washington’s list of terrorist organizations.
In a brief four-minute intervention, the Democrat tried to be optimistic. “I am convinced that Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live in security and to enjoy the same level of freedom, prosperity and democracysaid Joe Biden, speaking from the White House. My administration will continue our discreet and tireless diplomacy to move towards this goal. I am convinced that we have a real opportunity to move forward and I am committed to working in this direction. “ He then withdrew without answering questions from the press.
Maintaining the status quo
Its commitments are strikingly modest since they are limited to maintaining the status quo. Joe Biden spoke of the continuation of the American military aid from which Israel benefits while insisting Thursday on its defensive aspect, the anti-missile shield which limited the loss of life and destruction on the Israeli side.
He symmetrically pledged aid to rebuild Gaza, a territory where living conditions were already extreme, before the eleven days of Israeli bombing, due to a ruthless blockade in place for fifteen years. The president insisted that this aid would be piloted by the Palestinian Authority. This commitment is a challenge given the fact that the latter is absent from the narrow strip of land and has the worst relations with Hamas.
Joe Biden helped end the crisis by publicly indicating on Wednesday that a ceasefire had become imperative, which Benjamin Netanyahu at first pretended to ignore. This conclusion allows him to erase a laborious first week.
She had confirmed, after the crisis caused by the influx of migrants to the border with Mexico in February, the difficulty of the new administration to adapt to an unforeseen event likely to call into question an agenda centered on the fight against Covid-19 epidemic and massive investment projects in the United States. The absence of an ambassador in place and a special envoy reporting directly to the White House, as has been the case in the past, may also have contributed to a sluggish start.
You have 27.81% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
