Washington - Many American commentators are surprised by the attempt of President Joe Biden's administration to reach an agreement that would allow an end to the Israeli war on Gaza, and the release of the remaining prisoners and detainees held by Hamas, amid the heat of the US presidential election season, at a time when the White House is not using its tools to push Israel to accept the US proposal.

From his vacation headquarters in California, Biden called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in the virtual presence of Vice President and Democratic candidate for the 2024 presidential elections Kamala Harris, from Chicago, where she is at the Democratic Party General Conference, reflecting the great importance of ending the war for the White House.

4 months of attempts

The Biden administration, which has less than 5 months left in power, lacks a major diplomatic achievement in its foreign policy in general, while its record in dealing with the Middle East is failing at best.

In recent days, Washington has sent messages stating that we are "closer than ever to reaching an agreement in Gaza." US officials indicated that the agreement was very close, but the negotiations that have been ongoing since the beginning of the year appear to have failed repeatedly. During his recent two-day visit to Israel, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken stated that a “decisive moment, perhaps the last opportunity” had been reached to reach an agreement.

Over the past four months since the US president proposed what was known as the Biden initiative to stop the fighting in Gaza and release the prisoners, Washington, along with Cairo and Doha, has worked in vain to implement this agreement due to Israeli intransigence.

In press statements before leaving the Qatari capital, Blinken said that “time is gold because the comfort and lives of the hostages are at risk with every passing day. Time is gold because women, children and men in Gaza are suffering with every passing day without access to adequate food and medicine and are at risk of injury or loss of life in the midst of fighting that they did not start and cannot stop.”

The expansion of the conflict

Since October 7, the Biden administration has repeatedly stated that one of Washington’s most important goals is to prevent the conflict from spreading beyond the Gaza Strip. However, this goal has become difficult to achieve with the continuation of skirmishes and calculated military operations on the Israeli-Lebanese border, the continued obstruction of navigation in the Red Sea by the Houthi group in Yemen, and the attacks by factions allied with Iran inside Iraq on American bases spread throughout the region.

During his recent tour of the region, Blinken reiterated that the Gaza agreement is “the key” to regional stability. Despite the prevailing belief that it will hinder the negotiations, the recent assassinations in Beirut and Tehran have not stopped efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

America’s interest

Blinken believed that reaching an agreement on Gaza is an American interest, “as there are still American citizens among the prisoners in Gaza, and I have been clear in saying that the American interest is to ensure that our citizens are returned to their homes and families and that the remains of those who lost their lives are recovered.”

Democratic Party leaders fear that former President Donald Trump's election campaign will exploit Hamas' continued detention of five dual-citizen Americans. Trump reiterates that the weakness of the Biden administration encouraged Hamas to launch the October 7 attacks, and that if he had been in power, the conflict would not have erupted, in addition to exploiting the issue of American detainees to weaken the Biden-Harris administration.

Brian Katulis, a former official in the Barack Obama administration and an expert at the Middle East Institute, pointed out that there are two main challenges facing American diplomacy: "First, the two main parties, Hamas and Israel, continue to use force and violence in their ongoing confrontation. Second, both parties continue to add demands aimed at shaping the post-conflict environment."

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, former US Assistant Secretary of State for Middle Eastern Affairs, Ambassador David Mack, indicated that "there are domestic and foreign policy reasons for the Biden-Harris administration to remain active in trying to persuade Hamas and the Israeli government to agree to the bridging proposals of American, Egyptian and Qatari negotiators."

“We are watching the local imperatives unfold in Chicago, where many actors have devoted significant effort to influencing the Democratic Party platform and the views candidates publicly express in that regard,” he said.

For her part, international affairs expert Asal Arad told Al Jazeera Net that Biden and Harris "are making all this effort for show, not to end the massacre in Gaza," referring to international and local pressure to hold Israel accountable, stop the war that has already killed more than 40,000 people and thousands are still missing, and end arms exports to Israel.

She added that the Biden-Harris administration wants to appear as if it is listening to public opinion and adhering to international and local law; "This is especially true with the 2024 presidential election fast approaching, and protests continuing at election events such as the Democratic National Convention."

As for whether the White House has any real influence and will to pressure Netanyahu to make concessions, Asal Arad said that "the White House has tremendous influence over the Israeli government and Netanyahu, but they simply refuse to use this influence."

She explained that the White House has not only refused to use this influence, such as billions of dollars in military aid, arms sales, and diplomatic protection, but Israel has actually been rewarded with more From funding and weapons, such as the additional $20 billion in weapons that was recently approved for Israel.

Ambassador David Mack opined that “the White House has leverage under US law that justifies withholding military aid and arms shipments to Israel, but Biden’s lifelong sympathy for Israel prevents him from clearly breaking with Netanyahu, even though the Israeli prime minister has tarnished Biden’s friendship with Israel itself.”

Source: Al Jazeera