Biden’s Middle East Endgame Explains Death Sentence to Thousands of Palestinians and Israeli Captives – World Issues
PARIS, Oct 24 (IPS) – No one should be fooled by President Biden’s recent warning to Israel that the US may face consequences if it does not do more to distribute humanitarian aid to Gaza in the next 30 days. Biden’s warning, along with Anthony Blinken’s 11th trip to Israel and the region to try to revive talks to end the conflict, is nothing more than a double whammy designed to please a domestic audience and buy time for Israel to deepen its intentions to exterminate the Palestinian people again. punish cruelly. those who support their release.
It is not surprising that Israel’s immediate response to Biden’s warning and Blinken’s discussion this week has been to increase the blockade and military attacks on the already besieged Gazans, especially in the famine-stricken Northern Gaza, where tens of thousands of men are unarmed and hungry. , women and children are now being captured, imprisoned, and slaughtered like animals by Israeli political elites who have the lethal weapons of the US and the iron loyalty of Biden on their side.
As Israel blocks humanitarian aid from reaching distraught and homeless Palestinian citizens across the Gaza Strip, hospitals are now facing a shortage of medical supplies amid a growing number of wounded and sick. Health care providers and first responders, themselves struggling to survive, now have little more than their compassion to offer the sick and dying. Unless President Biden uses his unique powers to take decisive action, immediately, tens of thousands more Palestinians will be killed in the next thirty days, 75% of whom will be women and children.
As an American citizen who has worked in the humanitarian field for over 30 years, I have witnessed and paid close attention to the abuses in public life that my government has chosen to unleash since 9/11 in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Libya, Yemen and now Gaza and Lebanon. Rather than working to destabilize times of crisis through honest and mature dialogue, the United States, regardless of which political party is in power, has often chosen to pursue extreme war as the basis of its foreign policy, with little benefit. special interest groups in Washington at the expense of innocent people abroad, the US military and ordinary US taxpayers at home.
During my career, I have also had the privilege of witnessing those rare occasions when the United States has chosen to minimize damage by using its powerful foreign policy tools to defuse conflicts and protect humanitarian aid. In 1991, in Northern Iraq, the US led a multinational coalition of NATO and UN partners to bring emergency aid and protection to Iraqi Kurdish refugees fleeing Saddam Hussein’s gas attacks. Also, in the 90s, the United States helped deliver C5 Galaxy cargoes of life-saving emergency supplies to people besieged in Sarajevo and worked with NATO and UN allies to enforce a no-fly zone over the former Yugoslavia. This decision helped to reduce the level of violence between the various warring parties and to protect civilians and UN staff. During earthquakes, such as those that struck Turkey in 1999 and 2023, the United States sent search and rescue teams, often the first to reach people trapped under tons of concrete and steel with special machines and dogs. Biden’s decision to leave Palestinian civilians and security personnel to try to rescue people from under the destroyed homes and shelters caused by American bombings, with nothing but their hands says all one needs to know about the futility of his recent warnings, red lines, and shuttle diplomacy. Biden’s foreign policy is nothing but cruel and unusual punishment Article 8 of the US Constitution warns Americans against harming others.
If President Biden was really willing to deal with the humanitarian crisis facing the Palestinians and now the Lebanese, he would not need to wait 30 days. What he will need to do is quickly imitate the American administration and use his superior power, use the potential airspace in Gaza and Lebanon, and approve an immediate arms embargo on Israel. This integrated approach will rapidly improve the conditions for a lasting ceasefire, unhindered aid access and prevent the escalation of regional tensions. Rather than using his remaining days in office to buy time for Israel to cause more human suffering, President Biden must buy time for those who will not live to see another day without humane US foreign policy intervention. Imagine you are the most powerful leader in the world and you choose anything less.
The author is an expert on humanitarian issues and disasters.
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
