Washington tries to dismantle the resistance by non-military means and bets on Arab concessions

Political analysts said that the United States is stuck in the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, and that it is trying to force Arab countries to participate in repairing what was destroyed by the occupation under the pretext of preserving the security of the region.

Despite the United States' unwavering support for and agreement with Israel on the need to end the resistance militarily, the two parties are still at odds over the method of implementation, according to Dr. Liqaa Mekki, a senior researcher at the Al-Jazeera Center for Studies.

During his participation in the program "Gaza.. What's next?Makki said that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during his recent trip to the region, tried to find a Middle Eastern approach that would end the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) militarily and keep it as a political actor.

Makki said that the United States is currently working to achieve what Israel was unable to achieve militarily, under the pretext of saving the people of Gaza and preserving the security of the region, noting that Tel Aviv is satisfied with this move, but it continues political blackmail through escalation of aggression.

Political analyst Wadih Awadeh agreed, saying that Washington is identical with Israel in terms of the objectives of the war, but is really different from them in how to achieve it.

Odeh said Blinken’s “miserable” visit to the region had a number of goals, including pushing Israel into a new phase of a less violent war that allows residents to return to the northern Strip and get more aid in.

Former Pentagon official Yasmin al-Jamal, however, says the only new thing that Blinken came up with during his recent trip was an agreement to bring a U.N. commission into the northern Strip to assess whether residents can return.

Al-Jamal noted that the mechanism of implementing this agreement is still unknown, and "therefore it cannot be said that there is a real change in the American position," noting that Washington "is trying to make Israel understand - in the closed rooms - that the expansion of the war and the continuation of destruction operations do not serve American interests, which Tel Aviv has not shown any compliance with so far."

Asked about the US administration's pressure on the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, Mekki said that there is no pressure in the real sense, adding that "the war is not a purely Israeli decision, but rather an American-Western decision," stressing that everyone still wants to continue the fight.

Contrary to what some believe, McCain believes that Netanyahu is the one who is pressuring the Biden administration after it tightened its grip on it, pointing out that Washington currently "cannot get out of Israel's grip, and if it does, Biden may not be able to continue his election campaign."

"Yet al-Jamal argued that Washington had not used its strong pressure to force Israel to stop its way of war, though it was not satisfied with this approach."

Biden is stymied because he worries about supporting Israel in the upcoming elections, and at the same time did not expect such a dramatic decline in his popularity among American Muslims, who have openly declared that they will not vote for him, “even though they do not see a quarter of what is happening on the ground because of America’s disregard for him as a politician and media officer.”

Biden’s team is “trying to pressure Israel without losing the support of its American allies in the election,” al-Jamal says.

Seeking Arab concessions
Regarding what Blinken wants from the Arab countries, McKee said the secretary has a logic that every ordinary step requires an Arab-Palestinian tour and concessions to convince Israel to take it.

More seriously, McKie said, Blinken is putting pressure on countries in the region, especially those perceived to have influence with the resistance such as Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, to force Hamas to make concessions.

"America is more verbally enthusiastic than the Arabs about getting food into the strip, and I fear that some Arab countries will put real pressure on Hamas to agree to stop the war and maybe to disarm it," Mekki added.

The next stage "will be a difficult one, given the collapse of the central Arab countries and the difficult economic situation Egypt is experiencing", he said.

Al-Gamal said Arab countries refuse to bear the costs of repairing what Israel has destroyed, as evidenced by the UAE's refusal to pay Palestinian workers in Gaza. "What Blinken is trying to do is convince countries in the region that it is in no one's interest to expand the conflict and convince them to participate in building Gaza and stopping the war, and it remains to see the results," she said.

Al-Jamal concluded that the current crisis is that there is a popular Israeli desire to continue the war after the shock of October 7.

For Awdah, Biden is weak against Netanyahu, who practices "brazenness," believing that the only way out for Washington now is "for Benny Gantz to form a new, less extreme war government; Because there is a consensus to continue the war, but in different ways."

Source: Al-Jazeera