[GEO.TV] US Secretary of State Antony Blinken proposed international security forces and temporary UN leadership to stabilise post-war Gaza where he warned that Hamas has recruited as many fighters as it has lost.
With talks in Qatar closing in on a ceasefire to the devastating 15-month war and days before he leaves office, Blinken laid out his long-awaited roadmap for post-war Gaza and warned that it required Israel accepting a path to a Palestinian state.
In line with his calls since the start of the war, Blinken said that Gaza should be under the control of the Palestinian Authority -- which now holds shaky, partial control of the West Bank and has been repeatedly undermined by Israel.
Acknowledging the limitations of the Palestinian Authority, Blinken said an unstated number of countries have offered to send troops and police to post-war Gaza.
He said that the "interim security mission" would include both foreign forces and "vetted Palestinian personnel."
"We believe that the Palestinian Authority should invite international partners to help establish and run an interim administration with responsibility for key civil sectors in Gaza, like banking, water, energy, health," Blinken said.
In a lengthy address at the Atlantic Council that touched on many aspects of the war and the broader state of the Middle East, Blinken offered extended criticism of Israel’s war strategy, particularly its refusal to devise a plan to replace the Hamas
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
terror group, which, he contended, has recruited as many fighters as it has lost in the 15-month war.
Blinken said the outgoing administration would hand over its proposed roadmap to President-elect Donald Trump
...The cad! Twice caught beating wimmin!...
’s team to pick up, if a ceasefire deal is reached, as Israel and Hamas appeared to be on the brink of such an agreement.
Blinken said he envisions the Paleostinian Authority inviting international partners to help establish and run an interim administration responsible for key civil sectors in Gaza, such as banking, water, energy, health, and civil coordination with Israel.
He said the international community would provide funding, technical support, and oversight to this interim administration in Gaza, without elaborating on who exactly would fund the enterprise.
He said the interim panel would be assembled through consultation with communities in Gaza and should include representatives from the Strip along with representatives from the PA.
The committee would work closely with a senior UN official appointed to oversee the international Gaza reconstruction effort. The temporary committee would be replaced by a reformed PA "as soon as it’s feasible."
An interim security mission would be made up of troops from US-allied countries, along with vetted Paleostinian personnel. It would be in charge of securing humanitarian aid along with border security and smuggling prevention, Blinken said.
He revealed that some US allies have already expressed their willingness to contribute security forces to the interim mission, but that they have conditioned this support on Israel agreeing to allow the West Bank and Gaza to be reunited under a reformed PA, as part of a pathway to a two-state solution — something Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected.
Blinken said his plan also envisions the US establishing a new initiative to train, equip, and vet a PA-led security force for Gaza, which would gradually take over the interim security mission.
These various frameworks for Gaza’s governance, reconstruction, and security would be enshrined in a UN Security Council resolution.
Blinken’s speech was a subject of controversy within the Biden administration, with some arguing that it would be exploited by Netanyahu for political gain. Others maintained that it could even harm the hostage negotiations. Another US official told The Times of Israel that the decision to unveil the plan in this manner decreases the likelihood that it will be adopted by the incoming Trump administration, which largely wants to avoid continuing initiatives from the outgoing team.
Turning to the current negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal, Blinken said American, Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
i, and Egyptian mediators submitted a final hostage deal proposal to Israel and Hamas on Sunday, hinting that the terror group has not given an answer.
"The ball is now in Hamas’s court. If Hamas accepts, the deal is ready to be concluded and implemented," he said, indicating that Israel has already accepted — something even Netanyahu’s office has not confirmed.
"I believe we will get a ceasefire," he added in his speech. "Whether we get there in the remaining days of our administration, or after January 20, the deal will follow closely the terms of the agreement that President Biden put forward last May and that our administration rallied the world behind."
ANTI-ISRAEL HECKLING
Blinken’s speech was interrupted three times in its first 15 minutes by anti-Israel protesters who accused him of facilitating "genocide."
"You will forever be known as Bloody Blinken, secretary of genocide," the first protester shouted before being led out of the event.
"You’re a brutal war criminal," screeched a second protester, five minutes later.
Blinken remained calm, telling one heckler, "I respect your views. Please allow me to share mine," before resuming his remarks.
Blinken said US officials had debated "vigorously" the Biden administration’s response to the war, a reference to a slew of resignations by officials in his State Department who criticized the policy to continue providing arms and diplomatic cover to Israel.
Amy resignations for the policy of abusing Israel? I don’t recall reading about it. Others felt Washington held Israel back from inflicting greater damage on Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
and its proxies, he said.
"It is crucial to ask questions like these, which will be studied for years to come," he said. "I wish I could stand here today and tell you with certainty that we got every decision right. I cannot."
Rest easy — you got every decision wrong.
RECIPE FOR ’PERPETUAL WAR’
Blinken criticized Israel’s war strategy, saying Netanyahu’s refusal to advance a viable alternative to Hamas rule in Gaza, such as the PA, led the IDF to repeatedly return to places in the Strip it had previously cleared of Hamas fighters who then managed to return.
That’s certainly one view. The other is that the Biden administration’s insistence that Israel fight with both hands tied behind its back allowed Hamas to regroup and return. “We’ve long made the point to the Israeli government that Hamas cannot be defeated by a military campaign alone, that without a clear alternative, a post-conflict plan, and a credible political horizon for the Palestinians, Hamas, or something just as abhorrent and dangerous, will grow back,” Blinken said.
Yes, you did. But that’s not how the World War II was prosecuted, nor the Cold War against the Soviet empire. Possibly your stepfather spoke of it, during his lectures on his experiences during the Holocaust — there are videos on the internet for you to consult, should your memory fail. “That’s exactly what’s happened in northern Gaza since October 7. Each time Israel completes its military operations and pulls back, Hamas militants regroup and reemerge because there’s nothing else to fill the void,” he said.
“Indeed, we assess that Hamas has recruited almost as many new militants as it has lost,” Blinken revealed. “That is a recipe for an enduring insurgency and perpetual war.”
The new recruits lack the experience and skill of those who died. But really, the way war works one must keep killing the enemy until either he gives up or ceases to exist. “Israel has pursued its military campaign past the point of destroying Hamas’s military capacity and killing the leaders responsible for October 7, convinced that unrelenting military pressure was required to get Hamas to accept a ceasefire and hostage deal on Israel’s terms,” he said.
Patently false, since Hamas has niot accepted a ceasefire and hostage deal on Israel’s terms,despite all the claims that they are about to do so. He added that Hamas has “cynically weaponized the suffering of Palestinians,” and pointed to a Wall Street Journal report that purported to reveal a message that the late Hamas terror leader Yahya Sinwar sent to mediators, in which he called the death of Palestinian civilians “necessary sacrifices” and argued that the more innocent Palestinians were killed, the more Hamas would benefit.
Blinken panned both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority for some of their policies over the past several years.
How balanced of him. “Israelis must abandon the myth that they can carry out de facto annexation [of the West Bank] without cost and consequence to Israel’s democracy, to its standing and to its security,” Blinken contended.
Yeah, yeah. “Israel is expanding official settlements and nationalizing land at a faster clip than any time in the last decade, while turning a blind eye to unprecedented growth in illegal outposts. Violent attacks by extremist settlers against Palestinian civilians have reached record levels,” he lamented.
There has to be a cost for not making peace. Like Hamas, the Palestinian Authority has repeatedly refused to sign a peace treaty, or even a formal ceasefire. Past experience is that Israel gave up land for peace, so it ought not matter that Israel is improving properties will become Palestinian when they finally give up their intended war of intended annihilation. Blinken said Israel’s refusal to allow the Palestinian Authority to gain a foothold in Gaza and to accept a time-bound, conditions-based approach for Palestinian statehood has prevented other international actors from accepting Israel’s call to help rebuild Gaza.
*shrug* The PA couldn’t hold Gaza last time. In the meantime they’ve become weaker, so it’s even more likely they wouldn’t be able to hold it now. He acknowledged that some in Israel argue that heeding those requests would amount to a reward for Hamas. However, Blinken argued that Hamas is opposed to the two-state solution for which the international community has advocated, and which it sought to quash with the October 7 onslaught.
Yes, but Israelis no longer believe that a two-state solution is possible, as the PA has shown no interest in governing the little statelet in the West Bank beyond stripping it to line the pockets of the leadership. Had the PA leadersshown themselves capable instead of bloodthirsty and venal, it would be different. “Israel’s government has systematically undermined the capacity and legitimacy of the only viable alternative to Hamas — the Palestinian Authority,” Blinken said, pointing to Israel’s withholding of hundreds of millions of dollars in Palestinian tax revenues that belong to the PA.
Not viable. “Israelis must decide what relationship they want with the Palestinians. That cannot be the illusion that Palestinians will accept being a non-people without national rights. Seven million Israeli Jews and some 5 million Palestinians are rooted in the same land. Neither is going anywhere,” he said.
If there were five million Palestinians, possibly that might be true. But there might be as many as 3.5 million, and of them the 1+ million actual (versus imaginary) Gazans pretty much all want to move abroad. As for the PA, Blinken said it “repeatedly failed to undertake long-overdue reforms,” including ones to rein in corruption, decrease bloated bureaucracy, and alter its welfare program to cease payments to security prisoners based on the severity of their attack against Israelis.
Indeed. He also blasted the PA for refusing to consistently and unequivocally condemn Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, saying it “only entrenched doubts among Israelis that the two communities can ever live side by side in peace.”
True. Clearly you ae not blind, Secretary Blinken. Does it therefore follow that you’re stupid? Reflecting on the dangerous ripple effects of the war in Gaza, Blinken noted that “the more people suffer, the less they feel empathy for the suffering of those on the other side.
“Throughout the Arab and Muslim worlds, large majorities believe that October 7 didn’t happen — or if it did, that it was a legitimate attack on Israel’s military,” he said of the terror group’s 2023 onslaught that started the war, in which some 1,200 were killed and 251 taken hostage, amid widespread and widely documented atrocities against civilians, including attacks on hundreds of families in their homes and on a music festival.
“In Israel, there is almost no reporting on the conditions in Gaza and what people there endure every day,” Blinken continued.
That’s a blatant lie, Mr. almost-former Secretary. Most undiplomatic. “This dehumanization is one of the greatest tragedies of the conflict.”
You have it backwards. It is you that is dehumanizing the Israelis, along with just about all the Biden-Harris administration. And it’s not a tragedy — it’s a disgrace.
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