US pushes for truce that preserves Israel’s interests

The United States’ dubious stance in favor of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas had a new chapter last Monday (19), with the approval by the US State Department of US$20 billion in weapons for the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

While this amount is expected to be released for F-15 fighter jets, ammunition and tanks, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been pushing for a truce. Without providing details, he told the press that Netanyahu supports the proposal to stop hostilities in the Gaza Strip – where more than 40,000 people have been killed in ten months. They met in Israel.

This is Blinken’s ninth trip to the Middle East since the start of the war. This Tuesday (20), he is in Cairo, Egypt, to meet with mediators of the conflict.

Read more: Israel evacuates humanitarian areas as ceasefire talks continue

This true genocide promoted by Israel is accompanied by the non-compliance with resolutions approved by the UN Security Council that have already decided on a ceasefire.

According to Blinken, the Israeli prime minister said he would send teams to the negotiations, in Doha or Egypt. The secretary said that it is now up to Hamas to do the same, but he did not mention that in May the movement’s members had already accepted a truce proposal.

In the new model presented last week, Hamas disagreed with the terms. It stated that the resolution for peace only corresponds to Israel’s interests, as it does not foresee the total withdrawal of troops, much less a total ceasefire.

In the measure presented in May by President Joe Biden’s government and accepted by the Palestinians, there was a six-week truce phase with the withdrawal of some Israeli troops and the release of hostages, with a second phase of total withdrawal of the army.

Read more: Brazilian organizations launch manifesto against Israel’s occupation of Palestine

While negotiations remain stalled, despite Blinken trying to sell the idea that progress has been made, hostilities by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank have increased. The US Secretary of State has called for this type of violence to cease so as not to further increase the number of deaths among Palestinians.

He also fears that his efforts for a resolution will be back to square one if Iran attacks Israel over the killing on its soil of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, or Hezbollah over the death of commander Fuad Shukr in a bombing carried out by Netanyahu’s army in Beirut, the Lebanese capital.

*With international agencies