United States President Joe Biden spoke this week of a plan to pacify the territory that includes a demilitarized Gaza Strip, and also told a sector critical of his government and its policies in the Middle East, the automotive industry, ahead of a visit State of Michigan said violent Jewish settlers in the West Bank would be sanctioned by the government. The first sanction targets four settlers who were involved in various acts of violence against neighboring Palestinians. This is an unprecedented case of the US government blaming Israelis.
Israeli “Prime Minister” Benjamin Netanyahu responded to Biden with a succinct statement: “The overwhelming majority of residents in Judea and Samaria (the biblical names for the West Bank) are law-abiding citizens, many of whom are fighting these days” – as recruits and reservists – in defense of Israel. He added: “Israel takes action against all Israelis who break the law, everywhere; Therefore, extraordinary measures are not necessary.
In a statement to reporters, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of the National Religious Party denied that settler violence was a problem, calling it a “lie spread by Israel’s enemies to defame and harm settlers and pioneers” and to the settler movement .
According to Israeli and US analysts, it looks like Biden’s executive order could change the current rules of the game. It has the potential to impact Jewish settlements and their access to American financial institutions. It is possible that this will affect your fundraising and generally the relationship between both countries.
Biden said he viewed the “unbearable level” of violence in the West Bank as a national emergency and accused settlers of being extremists who undermine U.S. policy goals and initiatives.
The order is broad and allows sanctions against anyone the Biden administration sees as a threat to the peace, stability and security of the West Bank. “This executive order will allow the United States to impose financial sanctions on those who direct or participate in certain actions, including acts of violence or threats of violence against civilians, intimidation of civilians from leaving their homes, destruction or confiscation of property or engaging in terrorist activities in the West Bank,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said after the order was announced.
The head of the Hamas politburo, Ismail Haniyeh, spoke on the phone with the leader of Islamic Jihad, Ziad Nakhaleh, the Islamists said. The statement from Haniyeh’s office said the two agreed that any negotiations with Israel on the release of hostages should be preceded by a complete cessation of fighting, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the end of the blockade, the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, etc .must be accompanied by the release of Palestinian prisoners.
Meanwhile, Israeli ministers said that no plan for a deal on the release of hostages had been presented to the Cabinet, and they stressed that such a deal would not be reached soon, Channel 12 News reported. The ministers, who were not identified, said that “the feeling.” That the plan is still pending is unfounded. The agreement is still a long way off and it is not certain whether it will come about.
They stressed that it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to obtain approval for an agreement if it envisages a ceasefire for more than a month, the release of terrorists with blood on their hands and the release of a large number of terrorists. However, there are still leaks about possible deals and Qatar was optimistic the day before.
A senior Hamas official in Beirut, Osama Hamdan, told Lebanese television LBC that they were still studying a planned multi-stage deal to release the Israeli hostages in exchange for a longer pause in the Israeli offensive and the release of the prisoners. Palestinian Security Forces, but appeared to rule out key elements of the proposal, such as a phased agreement. And among the prisoners Hamas wants to see free, he mentioned convict from Hamas’ rival Fatah party, Marwan Barghouti, who is seen as a leading candidate to lead a future Palestinian Authority. Barghouti was arrested by Israel in 2002 and is serving five life sentences for plotting three attacks during the Second Intifada that killed five Israelis.
Satellite images analyzed by the UN Satellite Center show that 30% of buildings in the Gaza Strip were destroyed or damaged in the Israeli offensive. The Israeli attack killed more than 27,000 people in the Gaza Strip, according to Hamas, which makes no distinction between civilians and militants.