The joint statement issued by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar reaffirms that this is an ongoing process. There’s been a lot of confusion over the last 24 hours about how it’s possible that after Biden says this is an Israeli deal on the table, Benjamin Netanyahu can then make various comments that seem to say he doesn’t really agree with what the president said. The American in his speech.
And I think that’s understandable because none of us actually saw what this four-and-a-half page document was.
There’s been a lot of talk today about trying to understand what Netanyahu agreed to, what the Israeli deal is and how it works.
What the Biden administration says happened is that Netanyahu agreed to the parameters of this three-stage deal. The first part of this agreement is a six-week ceasefire with some sort of prisoner exchange, humanitarian relief and limited withdrawal of Israeli forces. But all these other issues – such as the future of Hamas – still need to be negotiated in the second phase. Therefore, it can still be described as an Israeli deal signed by Netanyahu.
There are differences between Biden and Netanyahu, which in themselves are very noticeable. Biden appears to have evolved on this issue, while Netanyahu is still using the same type of eradication [of Hamas] The language he was speaking before.
But for Biden, what he wants is a six-week ceasefire, which could then be extended as negotiations continue over other phases. Because you know we heard that last year. A Biden administration official was quoted as saying that Israel can pretty much do whatever it wants until the height of the election season.
And now with election season approaching, the conventions are starting in a few weeks, and Biden needs this pause, kind of a pause, a six-week pause. It is not a matter of a permanent ceasefire yet. It’s about a six-week ceasefire that will likely last so that Biden can begin to rehabilitate himself with his base during the election season.
The deal for Netanyahu is that by presenting this deal as an Israeli deal, he can begin, perhaps, to rehabilitate himself as international law approaches.
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