President Biden announces Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told him Israel has agreed to a "mutual, unconditional ceasefire to begin in less than two hours.”
He says: “The Egyptians have now informed us that Hamas and the other groups in Gaza have also agreed.” pic.twitter.com/QUuj4royxt
— The Recount (@therecount) May 20, 2021
So that worked
I sure hope some stronger language is being used in the background. Otherwise, this is the same-old-same-old.
It’s going to take strong U.S. pressure on military sales, and international cooperation to bring a resolution to Palestinian rights and Israeli oppression. Probably international recognition of Israel’s right to exist and offers of peace from all of Israel’s immediate neighbors (at least), plus the US announcing that Israel obviously doesn’t need so much military support (good luck getting that past the defense industry’s political fundraisers), and international condemnation of Israel’s apartheid system — and maybe peace would have a chance. Or maybe not — as long as Netanyahu is in power peace may only be a temporary illusion.
I always thought that the US missed a big opportunity when Hamas won the elections to encourage Hamas to transition to a political organization a la Sinn Fein. The analogy is not perfect, and Hamas might not have been capable of making that transition, but if we are going to encourage and support democracy — that is the party that won the election and undermining it only helped Israel to further divide-and-conquer the Palestinian people.