Would the Biden administration like to stop the war this week?
By Bassam Tawil, GATESTONE 12 March 2024
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal (R) and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (L) are hosted by Qatar’s then Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani at a ceremony in Doha, Qatar on February 6, 2012. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
- For [Palestinian] leaders, revamping the Palestinian Authority means forging an alliance with Hamas by inviting the terror group to be part of a new governing body that would rule the Gaza Strip in the post-war era.
- From Biden’s perspective, it is as though Netanyahu and the Israelis are responsible for the devastation in the Middle East since Hamas’s October 7 carnage, and not Iran, and Hamas’s main sponsor, Qatar, whose “protection money” evidently came “without protection.” As such, it would be no surprise if the Biden administration were to welcome a “Palestinian unity” agreement between Abbas’s Fatah faction and Hamas – a deal that would be no doubt presented to the world as the US-made revitalization plan; in reality, just a tee-up for the next war.
- Would the Biden administration like to stop the war this week?
- All the US would have to do is to inform Qatar that it was cancelling the agreement the Biden administration signed in January — in return for nothing -– to extend for another ten years America’s use of Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the forward headquarters of CENTCOM, and move it to a Middle Eastern country that does not, as Qatar does, have record of supporting Islamic State (ISIS/Da’esh), Hezbollah, al Shabab, the Taliban in Afghanistan and al Qaeda as well as Hamas.
- In addition, the United States could simply tell Qatar that, regrettably, the US has no choice but officially to change Qatar’s designation from “major non-NATO ally,” which it is not, to State Sponsor of Terrorism, which it is. The US could have the war over and all the hostages — not just the Americans — released in a minute.
- The Biden administration — or simply concerned citizens — could also demonstrate with placards advertising Qatar’s support for terrorism, a public relations campaign it might not relish.
- By stationing its forces at Al Udeid Air Base, the US is doing Qatar a monumental favor, not the other way around. Without the US airbase, Qatar is just a rich, extremely vulnerable sandbar, as its rulers are undoubtedly aware.
The US administration believes that the Palestinian Authority (PA) should be “revitalized” before it is handed control over the Gaza Strip after the Iran-backed Hamas terror group is removed from power. The US administration, however, has not clarified what it means when it talks about the “revitalization” of the PA. It can be assumed that it implies implementing — and enforcing — comprehensive reforms and ending the rampant financial and administrative corruption in Palestinian governing institutions.
PA leaders, meanwhile, seem to have a different interpretation of the “revitalization” proposal. For these leaders, revamping the PA means forging an alliance with Hamas by inviting the terror group to be part of a new governing body that would rule the Gaza Strip in the post-war era.
So the US has means and ways to end the war and get the hostages back and as usual, they will not lift a finger to achieve that goal. Instead, what they really want is that Israel accept defeat AND the loss of the hostages. Then the PA, which would be Hamas-led, would be in position to do what they said they would do: repeat the Oct 7 massacre as often as they can get away with until Israel has had enough of their nonsense and bombs them indiscriminately into oblivion. In this case, indiscriminately means no surgical bombing of empty buildings or free areas, but rather dropping oversize bombs on targets of interest to be sure that the target is destroyed and may the collateral damage be what it becomes.
I know this is not the Israeli, humanitarian, normal approach, but it seems that nothing less will work if Israel has to depend on US military aid to get munitions since the resupply is soooo very difficult for Biden and his deep state.