The participation of senior American officials was initially aimed at providing expertise and direct experience, as well as what was often described as “asking difficult questions,” in the context of the “bear hug” strategy pursued by US President Joe Biden, using public support to take advantage of public pressure. But as the war continued unabated and the American point of view was ignored, these officials were tasked with managing relations as tensions rose.

With this introduction, Haaretz newspaper opened an article by Ben Samuels in which he tried to shed light on the narrow team that is managing the reality of Biden’s policy towards Israel and Gaza, whether it is related to negotiations to recover Israeli detainees in Gaza, or preventing the Gaza war from spreading to Lebanon and across the Middle East, or ensuring that it does not escalate. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza, or by maintaining Israel's diplomatic standing regionally and globally, or by trying to revitalize the Palestinian Authority on the path towards a two-state solution after the war, or perhaps by a growing list of concerns.

Narrow circle

It includes five officials, starting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who effectively serves as a barometer for the administration's response, and whose speeches during his many shuttle trips in the months following the attack provide the United States' view of the facts on the ground, and what they reflect of the steadily growing concern about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Israel failed to limit civilian casualties.

The “five nos” in his speech in Tokyo on November 8, 2023, summarized the American principles regarding the Gaza war and the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which are: “No forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza now or after the war, no to using Gaza as a platform, no reoccupation.” Gaza after the end of the war, neither to siege or close Gaza, nor to reduce the area of Gaza, but it must also ensure that there are no terrorist threats from the West Bank.”

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, especially through his top deputy John Viner and senior Middle East advisor Brett McGurk, is considered the closest voice to Biden's ear on all foreign policy matters.

They were among the strongest advocates for re-prioritizing Israeli regional integration before October 7, until the attack by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) turned this approach upside down.

Since then, they have intensified their efforts publicly and privately to stimulate Israeli-Saudi normalization as a path toward a two-state solution.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby was the most prominent official to speak out on the war, and he won the praise of the pro-Israel American Jewish establishment for his steadfast defense of Israel's right to self-defense and rejection of accusations of genocide.

Senior officials

The newspaper pointed out that Kamala Harris, US Vice President, was deliberately exploited in foreign policy, and her speech at the 28th Climate Summit, in which she urged Israel to make more efforts to protect civilians, led many observers to believe that she was exposed to playing the “dirty” role, but Her Jewish husband, Doug Emhoff, served as the face of the administration to combat growing domestic anti-Semitism caused by the war.

As for the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, she was increasingly isolated on the global stage, as the majority of countries in the world demanded that Israel change its course in Gaza to better protect civilians and significantly increase humanitarian aid, while the United States was using its veto power against the resolution. He calls for a ceasefire almost alone.

US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew, who was urgently appointed within weeks after October 7, has served as a key interlocutor on the ground between the US and Israeli governments, particularly regarding the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza, as well as efforts to halt firing, keeping the Palestinian Authority solvent amid settler violence inside the West Bank, and the Israeli government continuing to withhold Palestinian tax revenues.

Detainee negotiations

Although McGurk is involved in every aspect of the conflict, his interest is increasingly focused on efforts to negotiate over detainees as a key to ending the war and the transition to normalization and efforts for a two-state solution, but it is CIA Director Bill Burns who is leading the negotiations over detainees.

Burns' efforts are supported by Roger Carstens, who works in the State Department as a special US presidential envoy for detainee affairs, and his deputy, Stephen Gillen, who traveled to Israel alongside Blinken immediately after October 7 and remained there to work with the families of the detainees.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin remained in constant contact with his Israeli counterparts, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy, where he received tactical updates about Israeli military operations, presented his own experiences and lessons about urban warfare, and worked to strengthen the American military position as a potential deterrent to Iran and its proxies. Regionalists.

As the war developed and tensions increased on the Lebanese border and with the Houthis in the Red Sea, he was tasked with conveying US dissatisfaction with Israeli tactics due to the regional implications.

Biden's senior envoy to Lebanon, Amos Hockstein, has been tasked with finding a diplomatic solution to a potential agreement to create a de facto buffer zone, moving toward an eventual long-term border agreement.

Humanitarian crisis

Although Biden did not appoint a special envoy to supervise the Israeli war on Gaza, he appointed David Satterfield as a special envoy for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza days after the war.

Satterfield has worked with the Israeli government to expand humanitarian aid entering Gaza as the risks of famine and disease grow, and he has defended the freedom of movement of Palestinians in Gaza and the need for new mechanisms to prevent clashes, Haaretz says.

For her part, USAID Director Samantha Power played an important role in coordinating American efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians, as she traveled to Egypt and supervised the delivery of 500,000 pounds of food aid and tens of millions of dollars in supplementary aid, with the establishment of a field hospital and the expansion of aid to include goods. Commercial.

Despite the progress that has been made in transporting flour through the port of Ashdod, simplifying the process of delivering aid through the Kerem Shalom crossing, and allowing the United Nations mission to visit northern Gaza to assess the possibility of the return of displaced Palestinians, senior American officials realize that their efforts face major obstacles, the newspaper says.

Palestinians

Sullivan directly discussed the need for reforms within the Palestinian Authority during his meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, including steps to revitalize leadership, and the need for PA security forces to help maintain order in the West Bank and play a potential role in post-war Gaza.

At the same time, senior State Department officials are working to maintain relations with the Palestinian Authority, whose current and future role as a governing body for the Palestinians has become a point of contention between the United States and Israel.

Indeed, Hadi Amr, the US Special Representative for Palestinian Affairs, visited Ramallah to meet with Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh, who stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire as well as the ongoing financial pressures facing the Palestinian Authority due to withheld tax revenues.

Other senior State Department officials, such as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Henry Wooster, Senior Middle East Diplomat Barbara Liff, Advisor Derek Chollet, US Security Coordinator Lt. Gen. Michael Fenzel, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israeli-Palestinian Affairs Andrew Miller, have played roles in Communicating with Israeli, Palestinian, and Jordanian officials, they spoke about the need for internal reform in the Palestinian Authority, as well as the dangers of settler violence.

Liv seeks to communicate with Arab allies regarding reconstruction plans, post-war administration, and normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and is assisted in this by two of Harris’ senior advisors, Phil Gordon and Ilan Goldenberg.

Source: Haaretz