Why do the clashes between Israelis and Palestinians take place?
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(CNN) -
Another Middle East tragedy offers us new insight into Joe Biden's sometimes ruthless calculations of the purpose of his presidency and his view of America's role in the world.
The violence between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas is the latest crisis that has failed to distract Biden from what he sees as his main task: ending the pandemic and rescuing the economy.
Biden on Monday refused to publicly condemn Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's incursions into Gaza in retaliation for Hamas rocket attacks, a move that is consistent with a record of strong support for Israel that surpasses that of many previous presidents.
Conflict between Israel and Palestinians: death toll rises, horror continues in Gaza
However, national and international pressure on Biden is intensifying amid rising Palestinian civilian casualties, including the deaths of children in Gaza, and Israel's destruction of a building in the enclave used by the Associated Press and others. media.
Other presidents reportedly felt the need to appear before the cameras to call for calm or, at least, to offer their public condolences for the deaths of civilians. Some administrations have already launched a peace mission for the Middle East. But in a region where the "peace process" is long overdue, a region with complications that Biden hoped to avoid, where possible, it is not easy to capitalize on limited US political or diplomatic capital.
"We have made it clear that we are ready to lend our support and to interpose our good offices to the parties in case they seek a ceasefire," said Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Denmark, in emblematic statements of a diplomatic push from States. States of low scope and their reluctance to urge Israel to stop.
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Netanyahu vows to continue attacks on Gaza as Israel strikes Hamas targets
Biden's only public act on Monday focused on responding to the pandemic and expanding the supply of vaccines abroad.
The actions of the White House sent a clear and evident message about the Middle East.
"I think the president frankly wants this issue to go away," said former Middle East peace negotiator and CNN Global Affairs analyst Aaron David Miller.
“He is tied with the greatest national recovery challenge since Franklin Roosevelt.
He is carefully choosing his foreign policy points. '
The fact that Biden has not lost sight of the pandemic, and the clear desire that his public appearances be limited to the issue at hand, recalls his refusal to be carried away by the narrative of the crisis when thousands of migrant minors moved through the border during his first 100 days in office and set the conservative media on fire.
Biden has also kept his eye on reshaping the economy to help workers rather than abide by a liberal wish list that includes expanding the Supreme Court.
Behind-the-scenes diplomacy
As usual, Biden on Monday kept his work on the conflict private, speaking with Netanyahu by phone while Blinken made multiple calls to the region's foreign ministers.
Egypt, a key interlocutor with Hamas, is a key target of US diplomacy.
Biden told reporters that he would discuss the talk with Israel's leader later, but his team adjourned the session (meaning there would be no more public events for Biden on Monday) at 1:48 p.m. ET, before he had place the conversation.
A statement about the call issued by the White House caused a stir with a line that said that "the president expressed his support for a ceasefire."
The comment sent a subtle signal that Biden's patience is not infinite with Netanyahu, who has indicated that he is not yet willing to stop operations against Hamas facilities and underground tunnels.
However, it has not indicated when the collateral political damage on the president will become an obstacle to his support.
In a region as treacherous as the Middle East, encrypted messages in an unsigned White House press release rarely change the situation.
The statement and recent quotes by anonymous officials about the rising "concern" seemed more like a move to ease pressure from left-wing Democrats on Biden than an actual attempt to change the dynamics of a violent confrontation.
Too many lives have been lost
But criticism of Israel is mounting, at least within Biden's own party.
Conflict between Israel and Palestinians could lead to war 2:31
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat who has strong pro-Israel credentials and who underscored its right to defend itself, made a striking call for a ceasefire.
"I want a ceasefire to be reached quickly and to mourn the loss of life," Schumer told reporters, saying he agreed with a statement by Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Republican Senator Todd Young of Indiana. , which stated: "As a result of the Hamas rocket attacks and Israel's response, both sides must acknowledge that too many lives have been lost and must not escalate the conflict."
Those comments may reflect pressure on Schumer himself from within the Democratic Party, especially from his New York colleague, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has been scathing about Israel, calling it an "apartheid" state.
Another high-ranking Democrat, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed, is one of 28 senators from the president's party who has publicly called on Biden to guarantee a ceasefire.
Here's what we know about the Islamist political movement Hamas
Hamas is a terrorist group.
They operate under the principle of terror.
And Israel, as a nation-state, has a greater burden to show that they are necessary military incursions, "Reed told CNN's Jake Tapper.
The Democratic opposition is more of a danger signal for Israel than Biden, as it threatens to weaken the Israelis' position on Capitol Hill.
Several prominent Democrats are, for example, calling for the administration to attach conditions to a shipment of $ 735 million in precision-guided weaponry to Israel, a package that is currently in a fast-track approval process in Congress.
Israel's operation is putting further strain on the delicate balance between Democratic Party progressives, such as MP Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, and older party leaders and supporters of Israel, such as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, from California.
That will mean hard work for Israel's diplomats in the country.
Biden protects Netanyahu
Conservative media have blamed Biden for the violence, citing his efforts to revive a nuclear deal with Iran, which funds Hamas.
But it's hard to see how the president could have protected Netanyahu more.
It has not criticized Israel for the clashes between its police and the Palestinians inside the Al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem or for the possible evictions of Palestinians in a neighborhood of East Jerusalem, the part of the city that they consider as the future capital. of his future state.
Progressives in Washington blame these incidents for sparking the firestorm that has been brewing for months between Israelis and Palestinians.
Netanyahu: Hamas and Islamic Jihad will pay for this 2:43
In a first taste of Biden's protection of Netanyahu, two diplomats told CNN that the United States blocked public statements by the United Nations Security Council on the conflict.
Still, Senate Minority Leader Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell set a political trap for the president in case the White House hardens its line against the Israelis.
"President Biden must stand firm in the face of the growing voices within his own party that create a false equivalence between terrorist aggressors and a responsible state that defends itself," McConnell said.
There are no advantages in the confrontation with the Israeli prime minister
Biden knows the downside of publicly antagonizing Netanyahu.
President Barack Obama's pressure on Israel's prime minister, and Netanyahu's willingness to play politics in Washington behind his back, marked the administration in which Biden served as vice president.
Given Biden's antipathy to pushing for peace in the Middle East, there is little reason to antagonize Israel's prime minister.
Still, Biden's position is not without risk.
The rapid rise in civilian casualties would raise questions about why he was not more aggressive in trying to stop the fighting.
A possible positive aspect of the last few days is that Netanyahu could be indebted to Biden in the face of any ceasefire agreement.
It is not clear how the president could take advantage of those advantages.
He could possibly convince Israel's leader, if he can remain prime minister amid his country's political uncertainty after other inconclusive elections, to avoid provocations such as the more controversial settlement projects.
In the event of a deal with Tehran that could mean the US return to the international nuclear deal, Biden could try to mitigate Netanyahu's public opposition.
Yet Israel's prime minister is so adamantly opposed to the idea that Biden would soon burn off any accumulated political capital.
The president's strategy has also revealed the limited targeting of a foreign policy that stands out above all for its consolidation of a more adverse stance towards China. He is pointing out that, in the post "America First" era, we will not go back to the days when Washington invested great efforts in negotiating Middle East peace agreements.
The most that can be expected from this limited effort is support for a ceasefire.
That in itself is an acknowledgment that the structures that enabled US-sponsored "peace processes" and efforts to enshrine a Palestinian state no longer exist.
Israel's political move to the right and the Palestinian divide between Hamas in Gaza and aging and ineffective leaders in the West Bank mean this is an unpromising moment.
In fact, the current conflict is likely to further diminish Biden's incentives to get involved.
Conflict Israel and PalestineJoe Biden