The president of the United States, Joe Biden, and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke this Friday for the first time in almost a month, as their differences become increasingly larger and more public.
The call, in which the tenant of the White House has reiterated the need to establish a future Palestinian State, came after the Israeli leader had unequivocally rejected that perspective, the fundamental pillar on which Washington bases its proposals for the day after the war in Gaza.
The telephone conversation, lasting about 40 minutes, was the first since December 23, when the dialogue between the two leaders was so unconstructive that Biden ended up hanging up the phone on his interlocutor, according to the American news portal Axios.
This time, it took more diplomatic courses to discuss, according to the White House, the latest events in Israel and Gaza.
The two discussed the steps being taken, in public and behind the scenes, to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas and other Palestinian groups since the radical militia attacked Israel on October 7, according to the spokesman for the National Security Council. , John Kirby, at the daily White House press briefing.
They also discussed “a pivot to millimeter operations that will allow the flow of more humanitarian aid to Gaza while maintaining significant military pressure on Hamas and its leaders” and Biden congratulated Netanyahu on the Israeli decision to allow sea arrivals to the Gaza Strip. strip of flour shipments, the spokesperson indicated.
Much of the conversation was dedicated to what has become one of the great stumbling blocks in a relationship between the two governments that, at the beginning of the conflict, seemed unbreakable: the future after the war and the need for a solution. of two States, the Israeli and the Palestinian.
Biden “also addressed his vision for more lasting peace and security for a fully integrated Israel in the region.”
Tensions between the two allied countries have been especially evident since Secretary of State Antony Blinken's trip to the Middle East earlier this month, his fourth tour of the area since the current war in Gaza began in October.
In a visit aimed at trying to prevent the conflict from expanding to other parts of the region, and to prepare for the day after the war, the head of American diplomacy proposed to the Israeli authorities a plan by which Saudi Arabia and other countries Arabs would contribute to the reconstruction of the Strip, and Riyadh would agree to the normalization of relations with Israel, in exchange for steps towards the establishment of a Palestinian State that coexists in peace with Israel.
Control security
On Thursday, Netanyahu categorically rejected that possibility.
“In any future agreement, Israel needs to control the security of all territory west of the Jordan,” the prime minister said.
Despite Netanyahu's rejection, Biden “continues to believe in the promise and possibility of a two-state solution.
He realizes it's going to take a lot of work.
That is going to require a lot of leadership in the region, especially on both sides of the issue.
But the United States remains firmly committed to seeing that outcome in the future,” Kirby stressed.
The two leaders also addressed the Israeli payment of tax revenues to the Palestinian National Authority in the West Bank and “recent progress in ensuring that the Palestinian authorities are available to pay salaries, including those of the Palestinian security forces,” he stated. Kirby.
“President Biden also addressed Israel's responsibility to reduce harm to civilians and protect the innocent while maintaining military pressure on Hamas,” the spokesperson added.
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