Israel rejected a reported Biden administration plan for a Palestinian state as the outcome of the war that Hamas began with the October 7 terror attack, saying Thursday that now is “not the time” for “gifts” to the Palestinians for having launched the war.
President Joe Biden and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken have pressed Israel, publicly and privately, to accept a Palestinian state. The Biden administration reportedly stalled a Saudi-Israeli peace plan, several weeks before the war, pressuring both sides to include a pathway to a Palestinian state. The White House has not changed its focus on a Palestinian state even in the wake of the October 7 terror attacks, which convinced many Israelis, left and right, that a Palestinian state next door would be a disaster.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the U.S. and several Arab allies are working on a peace plan that would end the current conflict and include unilateral U.S. recognition of a Palestinian state — whether Israel agrees or not.
The Post reported:
The Biden administration and a small group of Middle East partners are rushing to complete a detailed, comprehensive plan for long-term peace between Israel and Palestinians, including a firm timeline for the establishment of a Palestinian state, that could be announced as early as the next several weeks.
…
An initial cease-fire, projected to be at least six weeks, would provide time to make the plan public, recruit additional support and take the initial steps toward its implementation, including the formation of an interim Palestinian government, according to U.S. and Arab officials. Planners hope a hostage agreement can be reached before the beginning of Ramadan, the month of Muslim fasting that begins March 10, lest it compound the deprivation and pressure-cooker atmosphere in Gaza.
…
The elephant in the planning room is Israel, and whether its government will acquiesce to much of what is being discussed: the withdrawal of many, if not all, settler communities on the West Bank; a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem; the reconstruction of Gaza; and security and governance arrangements for a combined West Bank and Gaza. The hope is that Israel would also be offered specific security guarantees and normalization with Saudi Arabia and other Arab states that would be hard to refuse.
Israel will not agree to dividing Jerusalem, nor will it pull settler communities out of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). Most of the residents of those communities live close to the Israeli border, and the Israeli public will not tolerate residents being forcibly removed from settler communities — certainly not after the 2005 removal of Israelis from Gaza allowed Hamas to take over.
In response on Thursday, Israeli government spokesman Avi Hyman said:
Here in Israel, we are still in the aftermath of the October 7th massacre perpetrated against us by a genocidal Palestinian terrorist organization, Hamas. Now is not the time to be speaking about gifts for the Palestinian people, at a time when the Palestinian Authority themselves have yet to even condemn the October 7th massacre — and, on the contrary, have suggested in official statements that it didn’t happen, or have questioned it. Now is the time for victory, total victory against Hamas. And we will continue on the path to victory. All discussions of the day after Hamas will be had the day after Hamas.
English Daily Briefing – 15.2.24 Avi Hyman from Mizmor Productions LIVE on Vimeo.
Israeli critics have also warned that letting Hamas claim credit for a hostage deal before Ramadan, and specifically in advance of the Muslim holiday of Eid ul-Fitr, would strengthen its standing among Palestinians.
Hamas reportedly rejected a proposal to free the remaining 130 or so Israeli hostages in exchange for 1,500 Palestinian terrorists — a plan that would increase the ratio from November’s hostage deal. That rejection suggests to Israelis that Hamas is continuing to insist on an end to the war — a demand Israel cannot accept, because it would allow the terror organization to survive, to remain armed, and to claim victory in the war.
Update: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement early Friday morning, Israel time:
Roughly translated, Netanyahu rejected international efforts to impose a Palestinian state rather than allowing negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians; and described unilateral declarations of a Palestinian state as a reward for Hamas.
The statement, delivered at a Cabinet meeting, came after Netanyanu spoke to President Biden.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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