Blinken Meets Arab Leaders, Rebuffs Calls for Immediate Gaza Cease-fire

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Facts

  • US Sec. of State Antony Blinken held talks on the Israel-Hamas war with Emirati, Egyptian, Jordanian, Qatari and Saudi diplomats, as well as Lebanese Caretaker PM Najib Mikati and a senior Palestinian official, in Jordan on Saturday, a day after his closed-door meeting with Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu.1
  • Blinken reasserted support for 'humanitarian pauses' in Gaza to protect civilians and allow foreign nationals to leave, arguing that an immediate cease-fire, as Arab states have called for, would be counterproductive and help Hamas regroup.2
  • He added that both the US and Arab nations understand the pre-war status quo, with Hamas controlling Gaza, is unsustainable. He also met with Palestinian Authority's Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday in Ramallah to discuss future political arrangements in the post-war Gaza Strip.3
  • He's now expected to head to Turkey for a two-day visit as he continues his diplomatic efforts with leaders in the Middle East to establish the so-called humanitarian pauses in the conflict. Who he'll meet there hasn't yet been disclosed.4
  • This comes as US Pres. Joe Biden suggested on Saturday that progress has been made toward a potential humanitarian pause in the fighting, responding to a reporter in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware with a thumbs-up.5
  • Meanwhile, Israel has claimed responsibility for an attack on an ambulance outside Gaza's largest medical facility, the al-Shifa Hospital, on Friday which Hamas-appointed local officials claimed killed at least 15 people. The Israel Defense Forces stated that Hamas was using the vehicle to transfer operatives and weapons, adding that a number of its members were killed in the airstrike.6

Sources: 1Associated Press, 2Al Jazeera, 3Haaretz, 4BBC News, 5FOX News and 6CNN.

Narratives

  • Pro-Israel narrative, as provided by The Jerusalem Post. Though the war in Gaza is tragic, an immediate cease-fire would be neither reasonable nor right. Israel has been avoiding civilian casualties as much as tactically possible, and will continue to do so, but Tel Aviv must show strength so as to neutralize terrorists from Hamas and prevent further attacks from other Iranian proxies.
  • Pro-Palestine narrative, as provided by Al Jazeera. By urging for 'humanitarian pauses' instead of calling for a complete cessation of hostilities, the US is intentionally aggravating the suffering of Gaza's civilian population. Rather than taking concrete steps to avoid an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, Blinken has advocated for a measure that would do nothing to halt this genocide — one not even the Zionist regime supports.

Predictions