The Netanyahu-Biden Correspondence During a Pre-Christmas Conversation with the Prime Minister: “Is There a Two-State Solution?”
He rejected the idea that Mr. Biden was pushing Mr. Netanyahu into accepting a Palestinian state. “This isn’t about trying to twist somebody’s arm or force a change in their thinking,” he said. “Prime Minister Netanyahu has made clear his concerns about that. President Biden has made it clear that he still believes in a two-state solution. And we’re going to continue to make that case.”
The president still believes in a two-state solution, according to John F. Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council. “He recognizes that’s going to take a lot of work. It’s going to take a lot of leadership — there in the region particularly, on both sides of the issue. And the United States stands firmly committed to eventually seeing that outcome.”
Mr. Kirby said the two leaders discussed hostages held by Hamas, humanitarian aid to Gaza, release of tax payments to the Palestinians and the shift in Israel’s military strategy to more surgical operations. Mr. Kirby did not reveal any new agreements, but he confirmed that the leaders were still at odds about the state of Palestine.
Netanyahu is under pressure from members of his ruling coalition to intensify the war against Hamas in order to appease them, while facing calls for restraint from the United States.
The long gap between calls was indicative of something going on. In the two and a half months between the Oct. 7 attack and their pre-Christmas conversation, Mr. Biden and Mr. Netanyahu spoke 14 times, or roughly once every five and a half days. This time it took 27 days to reach out again.
The Second Israeli-Israel War in the Middle East: Palestinians, Iranians, and Israelis, or What Israel Can Don’t Apparently Say
Mr. Kirby downplayed their disagreements as true disagreements between friends. “We’re not going to agree on everything,” he said. “We’ve said that. Good friends and allies can have those kinds of candid, forthright discussions and we do.”
The latter phrase is often used by Palestinians and their supporters as an antisemitic statement suggesting the eradication of Israel, which is located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The House censured Representative Tlaib for her use of that phrase.
President Biden expressed his optimism that he and Netanyahu could keep their disagreements to a minimum. He said that there are many types of two-state solutions.
In the occupied West Bank mourners gathered for the funeral of a 17-year-old American shot and killed by a Palestinian. The circumstances of the shooting remained unclear, and police said the incident was under investigation.
A cameraman for the Associated Press says that four people were killed when a car was struck by a drone. The Israel’s military didn’t respond immediately.
Halima Abdel-Rahman, who lost her home during the fighting in northern Gaza, is currently residing in a shelter on the outskirts of Khan Youns and said that many homes have been reduced to rubble.
In Gaza, residents reached by phone after a seven-day communications blackout reported heavy bombardment and fighting between militants and Israeli troops in and around the southern city of Khan Younis and the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya in the north.
On Saturday, an Israeli strike on Syria’s capital destroyed a building used by the Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, killing at least five Iranians, Syrian and Iranian state media reported. A drone strike on a car killed two people in Lebanon on Saturday, according to the National News Agency. It was not known who the target was.
The war in the Middle East has spread with Iranian-backed groups attacking U.S. and Israeli targets. Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon threatens to erupt into all-out war, and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen are targeting international shipping in the Red Sea despite U.S.-led airstrikes.
The Gaza War: How Israel fought for the release of Palestinians and their children during the November 2011 Palestinian Hunger Strike in Tel Aviv
Hamas’ media outlet warned Palestinians against giving information about Israeli soldiers held captive in Gaza.
As part of its search for the hostages, Israel’s military dropped leaflets on Gaza’s southernmost town of Rafah. The leaflets, with photos of dozens of hostages, carried a message suggesting benefits for anyone who spoke up.
Dozens of anti-war protesters also gathered in the Israeli city of Haifa, carrying signs reading “Stop genocide” and scuffling with police who tried to confiscate the placards. The police made an arrest.
The Israeli military works in all possible ways to bring home hostages, said Rear Adm. Hagari, who is the Israeli military spokesman.
At the Tel Aviv protest, former hostage Chen Goldstein-Almog told the crowd that “if we, as a society, as a state, don’t do everything, I mean everything, to return the abductees, the living and the dead, we have no right to exist, as a state and as a society.”
The protest began Friday when the father of a 28-year-old held by Hamas began what he called a hunger strike. Eli Shtivi pledged to eat only a quarter of a pita a day — the amount some hostages reportedly receive some days — until the prime minister agrees to meet with him.
We can’t take it anymore. We’ve been told to sit quiet, let the government do its job. Well, it’s not bringing us any result for the last two months,” said Yuval Bar On, whose father-in-law, Keith Siegel, is among the hostages.
Netanyahu believes the only way to get the hostages back is by crushing Hamas. More than 100 hostages, mostly women and children, were released during a brief November cease-fire in exchange for the release of Palestinian women and minors imprisoned by Israel. According to Israel, more than 130 hostages are in Gaza, but only about 100 of them are still alive.
The offensive, one of the most destructive military campaigns in recent history, has pulverized much of the territory and displaced more than 80% of its population of 2.3 million people. An Israeli blockade that allows only a trickle of aid into Gaza has led to widespread hunger and outbreaks of disease, United Nations officials have said.
Source: Israel’s Netanyahu rejects any Palestinian sovereignty post-war, rebuffing Biden
Netanyahu’s alleged stalling to preserve the conflict is simply nonsense: “The need for the United States to recognize the state of Palestine”
After Netanyahu’s statement, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for the United States to go further. ” It’s time for the US to recognize the state of Palestine and not just talk about a two-state solution,” Abu Rudeineh said.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said “the refusal to accept the two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians, and the denial of the right to statehood for the Palestinian people, are unacceptable.” Speaking in Uganda, he said the refusal would “indefinitely prolong” the conflict.
A member of Israel’s War Cabinet, a former army chief named Gadi Eisenkot, has called for a cease-fire in order to get the hostages released.
Critics have accused Netanyahu of preventing a Cabinet-level debate about a post-war scenario for Gaza. They claim he’s stalling to prevent conflict. The office of Netanyahu called the claim that he was prolonging this warutter nonsense.