Call for a change in approach to Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip

2023-12-24 18:43:11, Kosova & Bota CNA

President Biden's administration's support for Israel in its fight against Hamas has prompted sharp criticism from Americans protesting the killing of Palestinian civilians, as well as from State Department personnel. As Voice of America correspondent Cindy Saine reports, President Joe Biden has signaled to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he must change his approach to the conflict or risk losing the support of the international community.

For decades, the United States has tried to broker a solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians over territory, religious centers and sovereignty.

In 1993, there was a moment of promise in the White House, when Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization negotiator Mahmoud Abbas signed a declaration of self-government, known as the Oslo Accords.

Peace appeared to be imminent, but former US Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb, who was present at the signing ceremony, says the Palestinians violated the agreement.

Mr. Korb, who now works at the Center for American Progress, told VOA that he still believes in the two-state solution, but with a new Palestinian leadership.

"Now the Palestinians must reorganize. Their leader Mahmoud Abbas is not effective. He is old. They must elect a new leader. It would be a great achievement if a Palestinian state could emerge from this terrible situation and it would make it much easier to maintain stability in the region," he says.

Aaron David Miller has worked for Republican and Democratic presidential administrations for decades, often as a member of the US team engaged in Middle East peace negotiations. He sees more continuity than change in US-Israel relations, especially with President Joe Biden in the White House.

"Joe Biden is the only one among modern American presidents who considers himself part of Israel's history. His relations with Israel's prime ministers and other leaders are decades old. He insisted on going to a war zone when the crisis broke out there," he says.

The president embraced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just days after Hamas militants, designated a terrorist organization by the United States, killed 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostages in a brutal Oct. 7 attack in Israel. He has repeatedly reiterated American support for Israel.

But within two months, the Israeli military bombarded the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, displacing more than 2 million Palestinians, injuring 50,000 and killing thousands more in Israel's deadliest campaign since the decades-old conflict began. .

President Biden recently told a campaign rally that Israel is losing support from other countries because of "indiscriminate bombing" of the Gaza Strip and that Netanyahu needs to make changes to his hardline government.

In New York and other cities, thousands of Americans have protested the killing of Palestinian civilians in Israel's offensive against Hamas.

A part of the staff of the State Department has expressed dissatisfaction with the approach to this conflict, even a group of them signed a letter of protest and some employees have resigned from their positions.

"People inside the State Department have been closely following our policy toward Israel for many years, and we have provided unconditional military support to Israel. So there is a consensus within the State Department that we have not used military means and support as a way to pressure Israel to find a solution to the Palestinian issue," says Elizabeth Shackelford of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

While thousands of people have protested Israel's military offensive, thousands more Americans gathered in Washington in mid-November to express support for Israel and condemn anti-Semitism.