The head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, left the Middle East yesterday with the sole commitment to "substantially increase humanitarian aid to Gaza in the coming days", without managing to moderate Israel's war intensity or having extracted "concrete measures" from it. regarding the suffering of the population in Gaza, as was its stated purpose.
What has arrived from the United States to this shore of the Mediterranean is an Ohio-class submarine, with nuclear missiles, in order to deter Iran's allies - read Hizbullah in Lebanon - and strengthen the naval deployment of the Gerald R aircraft carriers. Ford and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
From Friday until yesterday in Turkey, Blinken has tried to contain the indignation of the Arab countries over those 10,000 dead Palestinians and maintain the fight with Iran without overflowing the status quo. What he has not gotten, apparently, is any concession from Israel on the war. Neither “humanitarian pauses” – as President Joe Biden himself suggested – nor greater proportionality in the bombings on the Strip.
President Biden himself telephoned Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday, without the content being revealed. Nor the meeting in Tel Aviv of the head of the CIA, William Burns, with the Israeli war cabinet and his Mossad counterpart, David Barnea.
It is no secret, however, that the Biden administration is growing impatient with the course of the war and frustrated with the death toll. And more so one year before the presidential election. And more so because it fractures Democratic voters. “This rate of civilian deaths is unacceptable and unsustainable,” warned Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, of the Middle East subcommittee.
Without being received by President Erdogan, Foreign Minister Blinken leaves with promises of more humanitarian aid, just when the pace and difficulties of the repatriation of seriously injured and Palestinians with dual nationality to Egypt invites hopelessness. What seemed like a humanitarian relief has become another dispute, between political and bureaucratic: Israel accuses Hamas of having tried to “sneak in” some militiamen. For 48 hours, Saturday and Sunday, no one left through the Rafah crossing. Yesterday's figures do not invite optimism either: 17 injured and 80 Palestinians with dual nationality evacuated. Humanitarian aid? Twenty-five trucks on Sunday and 48 yesterday.
With Israeli troops completely surrounding Gaza City and the Strip divided in two, Prime Minister Netanyahu only talks of victory. Yesterday, he even said that "we will offer the people of Gaza and all the peoples of the Middle East a real future, a future of hope", after the victory - of course -, in a meeting with ambassadors accredited to Israel. What may seem like sarcasm has an explanation: Israel trusts that the Arab countries – unlike Iran – will not go beyond rhetoric in their responses.
The tour of the North American Secretary of State was also sensitive to this moderate front – Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia itself. Some because they share the fear of what Hamas means, others because behind Hamas is Iran, others because they fear that the war could cause another Palestinian exodus to their territories. Or all at once.
“Arab governments sometimes say one thing and think another. And all of them don't want to know anything about Hamas because they know it best. And he doesn't like it at all,” says Ruth Wasserman, advisor on Arab affairs to the late President Peres.
Only the United States has diplomatic capacity in the region, in which many analysts see the satisfied shadow of a tacit Tehran-Moscow-Beijing axis, presented by Israel as the enemy to defeat in the name of all.
“If they are not defeated, they will endanger the entire Middle East. And if the Middle East falls to the axis of terror, then Europe will fall. “This is a global battle, victory has no substitute,” Netanyahu told the diplomatic audience.
War advances more than diplomacy. Yesterday, the heads of 18 organizations within the United Nations signed a joint statement critical of Israel. “An entire population is under siege, denied access to what is essential for survival. This is unacceptable. We need an immediate ceasefire. “Enough is enough,” the text states.
Israel claims that the road through the Strip is open to those who want to flee to the south. And he always has the option of replying to the UN the same as Stalin after receiving criticism from the Pope: “And how many armored divisions does the Vatican have?”
