The European Council president on Saturday welcomed three-phase plan ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza announced by US President Joe Biden, though controversies are still present.
Charles Michel praised US efforts to co-operate with key partners, in particular Qatar and Egypt. Likewise, he reiterated that reaching an agreement is important so that this opens the space for negotiations on a long-term solution, in particular a permanent cessation of hostilities and withdrawal of Israeli troops, as well as the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.
I welcome the new proposal for a temporary ceasefire in #Gaza, hostage releases and humanitarian aid just made by US President Joe Biden.
Earlier, President Biden said Israel had offered the Palestinian resistance group Hamas a three-stage agreement that would end fighting in the besieged Gaza Strip and secure the release of hostages held in the coastal enclave. Biden called on Hamas to accept the agreement and urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to avert pressure from members of his ruling coalition who oppose the plan.
Hamas has signalled it is open to the offer, raising hopes for an end to Israel’s eight-month war. But Israeli tanks and artillery fire continued to pound the devastated Gaza Strip today. Netanyahu insisted on the destruction of the Palestinian group Hamas:
Israel’s conditions for ending the war have not changed: the destruction of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel.
Controversy surrounding the proposed plan
Abdullah al-Arian, a professor of history at Georgetown University in Qatar, pointed to a “major contradiction” in the demand: both Israel and its staunch ally the US say they do not want a future in the Gaza Strip in which Hamas has any political options. According to him in Al Jazeera:
“At the same time, this is an agreement that would have to be reached through negotiations with Hamas, so, how do you do that? How do you eliminate them as a political force and at the same time reach a negotiated solution that is agreed upon by all parties.”
Alon Liel, former director of Israel’s foreign ministry, said President Biden’s announcement was “music to the ears of the Israelis who want to end the war.”
“The surprising thing was that [the ceasefire proposal] was described as an Israeli offer. This contradicts many things that Netanyahu said recently; it looks more like an American offer that is presented as an Israeli one.”
In the meantime, Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto welcomed proposal as a step in the right direction. He said his country was ready to send peacekeeping troops to maintain the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip if needed.
“When needed and when requested by the UN, we are prepared to contribute significant peacekeeping forces to maintain and monitor this prospective ceasefire as well as providing protection and security to all parties and to all sides,” according to him at a security conference in Singapore.
On Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed President Joe Biden’s proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip with counterparts from Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia in separate phone calls; the proposal is in the interests of Israelis and Palestinians, he said.
Israel launched its counter-offensive on Gaza in retaliation for a Hamas attack on 7 October that killed some 1,200 people. As a result, Israel’s military campaign has claimed the lives of 36,500 Palestinians. According to local health authorities, most of the dead were women and children, while more than 82,400 others were injured.
