Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday slammed Hamas’s response to the Gaza ceasefire proposal, claiming some of the Palestinian group’s conditions were not “workable.”
Blinken made the comments in Doha alongside Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani. “Hamas has proposed numerous changes to the proposal that was on the table,” Blinken said. “Some of the changes are workable. Some are not.”
Hamas’s response contained amendments to the proposal that would give them stronger assurances that Israel would agree to a permanent ceasefire and full withdrawal from Gaza since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected those ideas. Israeli officials previously said Netanyahu’s public opposition to a permanent ceasefire would likely sabotage the chances of a deal.
But Blinken and other US officials are putting all the blame on the lack of a deal on Hamas and claiming Israel accepted the ceasefire proposal. “Hamas could have answered with a single word: yes. Instead, Hamas waited nearly two weeks and then proposed more changes, a number of which go beyond positions it had previously taken and accepted,” Blinken said.
He added that as a result of Hamas’s response, the Israeli slaughter and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza will “go on” and that more people will “suffer.”
Blinken didn’t go as far as Israeli officials who commented to the media on Hamas’s response and claimed that the Palestinian group rejected the ceasefire proposal, which signals it is not interested in continuing the negotiations.
Al-Thani offered criticism of Israel during the press conference with Blinken and said pressure needs to be put on both sides. He pointed to “contradicting statements from different Israeli officials” and noted that Israel launched its invasion of Rafah in early May after Hamas said it accepted a ceasefire proposal presented by Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
More people will have to die before Israel and Hamas reach an agreement, if ever they do. Each side will blame the other side for not wanting peace.
Israel will accept nothing less than the eradication of the Gazan population, whether by death or by expulsion. Israel has no desire for peace with the Palestinians. It has never had any such desire, but until now Israel kept its true goal (the ethnic cleansing from Israel of all Palestinians) concealed. This goes back to the originators of Zionism in the 19th century and was stated plainly by Ben-Gurion and Moshe Dayan, among others, when speaking to other Israelis (not so much to outsiders).
Moshe Dayan said that the Palestinians would, "live like dogs" under the yoke of Israel.
There is a purpose to the cruelty. This article gives one aspect: https://michael-hudson.com/2024/04/gaza-the-strategic-imperative/
They needed a big number and they got it Oct 7th. Ignored some warnings and took out some of their own people, but they got their big number.
One side has been under a severe occupation for 75 years. One side has been under a brutal blockade for 17 years. One side controls all incoming food, medicines, potable water, electricity, travel. One side has an army, air force, navy, nuclear weapons.
Hamas seems to have plenty of transportation capacity for missiles,but not food.
More people will be killed by Israel . That's the plan man.
Hamas agreed to their own proposal.
Israel and the US have not and Israel publicly opposed it.
You're being disingenuous.
F8ck Blinken. He knew the "agreement" was a set up for Israel to keep killing.
Blinken has lost what little credibility he ever had. Sad.
Yes … but: he can lose credibility with the 99.9%; but he can gain credibility with the 0.1% and the latter is what counts.
The US is still claiming this was an Israeli proposal. Clearly it was not. A discussion on The Electronic Intifada Youtube channel Wednesday suggested the goal was simply to BS everyone about that regardless of what the Israeli government actually says and to make sure that when nothing happens that Hamas would be blamed and Israel would be excused.
In other words, it's just another US PR ploy, a deliberate scam, just like the "aid pier", the "aid drops", and everything else the US has done.
Absolutley a ploy and a scam.
And even if it was an "Israeli proposal," then there is all the more reason for Hamas to have objections and suggest amendments. That's how diplomacy works. One side makes a proposal. The other side suggests changes. And then they work it out. NOT one side makes a proposal, and the other side simply acquiesces to that proposal, in toto, without any discusssion.
Blinken also lied when he said that the UNSC was "behind this proposal. " The SC merely said that it "welcomed" the vaguely worded proposal, not that it was imposing it or that it should be imposed on either party.
All in all, quite a nice little three step con by Blinken:
(1) Fake proposal that can't be nailed down, and that Israel has not really agreed to.
(2) Pretend that Israel, and the whole world, have signed on to it.
(3) Bash Hamas because it won't go along with the charade.
It's painfully obvious this entire peace plan was hatched by PPP's staff to collude with Israel to place the blame for a lack of negotiations on Hamas.
This way, the US (PPP) can continue to endorse the mass murder of innocents via money and weapons (plus vetoes in the SC), and Israel can proceed with the murder of the remainder of the Gazan population, thereby satisfying PPP's run for reelection and Netanyahu's wet dream of greater Israel, sans all those dirty arabs.
PPP?
A sheer lie by Blinken…!
How does a "response" lead to starvation and slaughter? Is it not rather bombing and machine gunning aid providers and doctors by Iz and funded and abetted by the US that does it?
Exactly. His state department has Hamas designated as terrorists. So, he is letting innocent civilian lives being entrusted to a group that are supposed to be terrorists. I mean, shouldn't he expect as much? But what the hell, bombs away, it's Hamas' fault.
Israeli Scientists Are Shunned by Universities Over the Gaza War
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-06-13/israeli-scientists-are-shunned-by-universities-over-the-gaza-war?srnd=homepage-europe
Israel should be subjected to an all-encompassing, UN-endorsed, international boycott, disinvestment and sanctions (BDS) regime. Israel should be barred from international sports competitions. Trade, at least in weaponry and "security" goods and services, should be prohibited. There should be an academic boycott as well. Israel should be treated as a pariah nation.
The way things are headed it won’t be long before the IDF and Likud are declared a “joint criminal enterprise” by the international community with profound repercussions along the lines you present.
This happened in the Yaser Arafat days. The Palestinians would agree to something but the Israelis would not. The Palestinians would make slight counterproposals but the US then blame everything on the Palestnians and pretend Israel cooperated.
"Jimmy Carter in 2013 said he met several times with Hamas leadership and they would be willing to accept the existence of Israel — but Netanyahu was intent on imposing a "one-state solution," which would make negotiations impossible and be "a disaster for Israel"" — Tracey
To modernize one of the world's most ancient sayings:
"Trust a rat before a snake, and a snake before an American official; but don't trust an Israeli."
He went as a Jew (like he said) and his policies reflect it.