Far fewer people stood and cheered when he shared his “vision” for the future of the Palestinian territories.
For many Democrats who have criticized Netanyahu, the Israeli leader simply confirmed what they already knew.
“in fact, [he] “It’s foolish to think that doing the same thing over and over again will have a different outcome,” said Rep. Jason Crow, R-Colorado, who watched Wednesday’s speech from the back of the House chamber. “It’s foolish to think that doing the same thing over and over again will have a different outcome,” he said.
Nearly 10 months into the Israeli offensive against Gaza, with the Biden administration increasingly frustrated and isolated on the world stage, Netanyahu showed no signs of compromise. There was no talk of Palestinian autonomy. There was no discussion of the Palestinian people’s right to life and freedom. There was no attempt to address the grievances that have stoked the anger Palestinians have felt against Israel for decades.
Instead, he spoke of a “demilitarized and deradicalized” Gaza — a Gaza that would be under Israeli control “in the near future.”
“Now is the time for Israel’s leaders to lay out their vision for the future,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vermont), one of more than 50 Democrats who boycotted the speech, recalled thinking as he watched it on television in his office. But “he didn’t do that. He didn’t give us a roadmap.” He hasn’t changed one bit, Welch said.
The Biden administration has been seeking for months to negotiate an ambitious three-phase peace deal to end Israel’s war in Gaza. The White House claimed during Netanyahu’s visit to Washington that the negotiating parties were “closer than ever” to agreeing a short-term ceasefire and the release of hostages. Biden said the next step would be to negotiate a permanent end to the fighting and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as well as the release of all remaining hostages.
This is the third phase of the plan, which will lead to new governance, security, reconstruction and a path to statehood for Palestine. Experts say this is the most important ingredient for successful long-term peace.
But if the notion of a viable Palestinian future was not on Netanyahu’s agenda before the war that began with Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel in October, his comments in recent days leave little reason to believe that his thinking has changed.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu has essentially abandoned the idea of a Palestinian state, so it’s clear that he has never spoken about a long-term plan for the Palestinians,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), chairman of a Senate subcommittee focused on the Middle East. “I I think he was going to be without a viable plan for a while.”
Liberal Democrat members of parliament, who have been increasingly frustrated with Israel’s actions during the war, are beginning to acknowledge that the Israeli government has also all but abandoned the second phase of the peace plan.
Satellite imagery, witness accounts and comments from military commanders have made it clear for months that Israel is preparing for a long-term military presence in Gaza. In recent months, Israel has strengthened a strategic route known as the Netzarim Corridor that bisects Gaza and allows for rapid deployment of Israeli forces across the territory.
Israeli forces have demolished homes and bulldozed acres of farmland to establish and expand buffer zones along strategic corridors and along Israel’s border with Egypt and Gaza. Israeli commanders have spoken of plans for “total freedom of operation” for their forces. They have shoveled soil and rubble into defensive earthworks, and begun building military bases and converting seized buildings to other military purposes.
Biden administration officials insisted this week that a deal between Israel and Hamas was close to being reached, while privately acknowledging that Netanyahu continues to press demands.
Vice President Harris, who is expected to replace President Biden as the top Democratic presidential candidate, urged the warring parties to “get an agreement done” after meeting with the prime minister on Thursday so negotiators can move to the next stage of the peace plan and “achieve a ceasefire to end the war.”
Netanyahu’s national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, who, along with Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, opposes the ceasefire and calls for the construction of Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, responded to Harris’ comments on social media, asserting that “there will be no ceasefire.”
Observers say Prime Minister Netanyahu’s political survival depends on both men.
The disconnect between the administration’s optimistic outlook for the deal and the reality in Gaza has frustrated and puzzled some analysts in Washington.
In recent months, as Israeli officials have defied President Biden in Gaza and Smotrich and his far-right allies have accelerated Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, administration officials have hinted that Israel’s Arab neighbors intend to play a role in the future governance and security of the Gaza Strip. Some have suggested that the Palestinian Authority, the weak, corrupt and deeply unpopular governing body in the West Bank, could be revitalized to govern Gaza.
“Agreement marks start of Gaza’s reconstruction [with] “Arab countries and the international community, and Palestinian and Israeli leaders, will work to ensure that this is done in a way that does not allow Hamas to rearm,” Biden said in a May speech. He presented a three-stage peace plan.
“The question of what happens next in this conflict, what happens after this conflict, is something that we’ve been discussing extensively with Arab countries, the Palestinians and the Israeli government over the last four or five months,” Assistant Secretary of State for Middle East Affairs Barbara Leaf told lawmakers in June. Leaf acknowledged that the PA faces a “serious financial crisis” because of Israel’s control over its revenue sources and has significantly restricted them since Oct. 7.
“The Arab world is horrified by what’s happening,” Yousef Munayyer, an expert on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the Arab Center in Washington, D.C., a think tank, said in a recent interview, casting doubt on the path forward proposed by the president. “The idea that they’re going to flip some kind of switch and think there’s going to be some kind of transformative agreement, I don’t know what planet they’re looking at this from.”
Labrac reported from Jerusalem.
