{"id":27948,"date":"2024-06-02T06:20:54","date_gmt":"2024-06-02T11:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=27948"},"modified":"2024-06-02T06:21:01","modified_gmt":"2024-06-02T11:21:01","slug":"biden-says-israel-has-agreed-to-lasting-gaza-ceasefire-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=27948","title":{"rendered":"Biden says Israel has agreed to ‘lasting’ Gaza ceasefire proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Israel has agreed to a proposal that would lead to a \u201clasting\u201d ceasefire in the Gaza Strip<\/a>, US President Joe Biden has announced, as he faces mounting pressure and criticism over his support for the Israeli war effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a news conference at the White House on Friday afternoon, Biden said Israel has put forward \u201ca comprehensive new proposal\u201d to end the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a roadmap to an enduring ceasefire,\u201d the United States president told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden said the proposal involves three phases, the first of which would last six weeks and include a full and complete ceasefire, as well as the withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first phase would also see a number of captives held in the Gaza Strip<\/a> \u2013 including women and the elderly \u2013 released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israel, while humanitarian aid would flow into Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are American hostages who would be released at this stage and we want them home,\u201d said Biden, adding that Qatar had transmitted the proposal to the Palestinian group Hamas, which governs Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement shared on Telegram late on Friday, Hamas said it welcomed Biden\u2019s remarks and his call for \u201ca permanent ceasefire, withdrawal of [Israeli] occupation forces from the Gaza Strip, reconstruction and prisoners exchange<\/a>\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group also said it was ready to respond \u201cpositively and constructively\u201d to any proposal that includes those measures \u2013 as well as the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes in Gaza \u2013 if Israel \u201cexplicitly commits\u201d to it, as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s office said in a statement that the Israeli prime minister<\/a> authorised the country\u2019s negotiating team to \u201cpresent a proposal\u201d to advance its goal of securing the release of captives held in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move also allows \u201cIsrael to continue the war until all its objectives are achieved, including the destruction of Hamas\u2019s military and governing capabilities\u201d, the statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden\u2019s announcement came as efforts to reach a ceasefire have faltered amid the Israeli military\u2019s push into the southern Gaza city of Rafah<\/a>, which has forcibly displaced about 1 million Palestinians over the past month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deadly Israeli attacks on Rafah have killed dozens of Palestinians and fuelled global outrage. More than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel\u2019s bombardment of Gaza since the war began in early October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coastal enclave is also under an Israeli siege, which has led to dire shortages of food, water and other humanitarian supplies, and spurred warnings of famine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the crisis in Gaza deepens, Biden has faced widespread protests and criticism for his staunch military and diplomatic support<\/a> for Israel during the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite growing anger over Israel\u2019s offensive \u2013 including recent deadly assaults<\/a> on Rafah \u2013 and warnings that he risks losing re-election over his stance, the US president\u2019s policy has remained largely unchanged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new poll released this week<\/a> indicated that Biden enjoyed less than 20 percent support among Arab Americans, a key constituency in several US swing states that could decide the upcoming vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden is set to face off against his Republican predecessor Donald Trump on November 5 in what is expected to be a tight contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A prolonged Israeli war in Gaza \u2013 which could drag on for another seven months at least, according to Israel\u2019s National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi<\/a> \u2013 will hurt Biden\u2019s re-election prospects, experts have said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe signs are clear. The writing is on the wall,\u201d Josh Ruebner, a lecturer at Georgetown University\u2019s Justice and Peace programme, told Al Jazeera this week<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd should Biden decide to continue this lockstep support for Israel for another seven months, it\u2019s not only going to kill tens of thousands more Palestinians, but it\u2019s also going to lose him the election.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to Al Jazeera on Friday, Palestinian political analyst Nour Odeh said the proposal does not appear to be different \u201cin any fundamental way\u201d from those that have been previously presented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was striking, however, is that Biden \u201cput himself on the line\u201d, Odeh said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe said the US would guarantee that Israel keeps its end of the bargain so long as the mediators can bring Hamas to accept the deal and keep up its end of the bargain,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the first time we hear from the president of the United States, the most important ally of Israel, saying, \u2018This deal is on the table, it\u2019s good and everybody should take it.\u2019 And I think it will be difficult for Hamas to resist the kind of pressure that will be applied on it, no doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 6, Hamas said it had agreed to a ceasefire proposal<\/a> by Egypt and Qatar that appears to be almost identical to the one Biden announced on Friday. Israeli leaders rejected that initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/imasdk.googleapis.com\/js\/core\/bridge3.643.0_en.html#goog_883907216Play Video<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his speech from the White House, Biden said the second phase of the ceasefire proposal would see the release of \u201call remaining living hostages\u201d in Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory, and a \u201ccessation of hostilities permanently\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow I\u2019ll be straight with you, there are a number of details to negotiate to move from phase one to phase two,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut the proposal says that if the negotiations take longer than [the] six weeks from phase one, the ceasefire will still continue as long as negotiations will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US, along with Qatar and Egypt, will work to keep those talks going, Biden added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, a reconstruction plan for Gaza would begin in phase three of the proposal and the remains of any captives killed would be returned to their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Biden said Israel had agreed to the plan, he noted that some Israelis \u2013 including members of Netanyahu\u2019s coalition government<\/a> \u2013 will disagree with the proposal and call for the war to continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve made it clear: They want to occupy Gaza. They want to keep fighting for years. The hostages are not a priority for them. Well, I urge the leadership in Israel to stand behind this deal despite whatever pressure comes,\u201d Biden said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

aljazeera<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Israel has agreed to a proposal that would lead to a \u201clasting\u201d ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, US President Joe Biden has announced, as he faces mounting pressure and criticism over his support for the Israeli war effort. During a news conference at the White House on Friday afternoon, Biden said Israel has put forward \u201ca […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":27949,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1169,1239],"class_list":["post-27948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-biden","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27948"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27950,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27948\/revisions\/27950"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}