John Jefferson
White House and State Department officials have said for weeks that the US is on the “verge” of orchestrating a ceasefire agreement in Gaza between Israel’s military and Hamas.
But now, a top White House spokesman has admitted that talks have essentially stalled.
John Kirby made the admission Sunday on ABC’s This Week when he was asked about a Wall Street Journal report which seemed to drain the optimism surrounding Gaza talks, indicating that senior-level Biden officials no longer believe peace is achievable this year.
Biden’s national security council spokesman told ABC that no progress has been made in two weeks on the deal, which he and others have previously said is largely hammered out.
“It appears that the Gaza ceasefire talks have gone cold. Is that right?” host George Stephanopoulos asked.
“I would say that we are not achieving any progress here in the last week to two weeks,” Kirby replied. “Not for lack of trying.”
He then firmly laid blame on Hamas’s Yahya Sinwar for refusing to continue negotiations “in good faith”. Sinwar became the lead negotiator for Hamas after his predecessor was killed in an Israeli strike in August.
It’s the latest mixed message from the Biden administration when it comes to Israel and Hamas, and the negotiations which the US has been facilitating through Qatar, aimed at ending the nearly year-long conflict.
Biden has also said that Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, deserves some blame for the negotiations failing to reach a deal. The devastating conflict has now claimed more than 40,000 Palestinian lives, including thousands of children.
Netanyahu commented on the matter in a Fox News interview earlier this month. “There’s not a deal in the making … unfortunately, it’s not close,” he said.
That sentiment was echoed by an unnamed senior Biden administration official in the WSJ’s report last week. “No deal is imminent,” the official said. “I’m not sure it ever gets done.”
“There’s no chance now of it happening,” another official, from an Arab country, commented in the same report. “Everyone is in a wait-and-see mode until after the election. The outcome will determine what can happen in the next administration.”
At the State Department, officials spent the past week taking questions about a bloody attack, believed to have been perpetrated by Israel, which set off explosions in pagers and walkie-talkies across Lebanon used by Iran-backed militant group, Hezbollah. The attack killed at least 39 people, and has escalated tensions between Israel and its neighbor.
State officials have refused to officially attribute the attack to Israel or explain the US position on whether it violated international laws. Israel has denied having any involvement.
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