Jordanian Prime Minister Denounces Israeli Operations in Gaza as ‘Sinful Aggression’
Bisher Khasawneh’s remarks and US secretary of state's talks with the Palestinian president highlight divides over response to Gaza crisis
Jordan’s Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh on Monday condemned Israeli actions against Gaza residents as a breach of international law. At a parliamentary meeting, he labeled the ongoing Israeli operation as a “sinful aggression” and said that any attempt by Israel to displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip or the West Bank would comprise a “red line” that would be considered a “declaration of war.”
Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday that “there can be no long-term Israeli security presence in Gaza,” adding that “Gaza is an essential part of any future Palestinian state.”
This following US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s unscheduled visit to the West Bank Sunday, meeting Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas as Israel pressed on with its deadliest campaign yet to destroy Hamas in Gaza.
Blinken arrived in Ramallah under tight security one day after meeting in Amman with Arab foreign ministers who were exasperated by the mounting civilian deaths in Gaza.
During his meeting with Abbas, Blinken said that Palestinians in Gaza “must not be forcibly displaced.” The two leaders also discussed “the need to stop extremist violence against Palestinians” in the West Bank, according to a US State Department spokesman.
President Abbas called for an “immediate cessation of the destructive war,” in comments made during his meeting with Blinken, as quoted by the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
Abbas also stressed the need for “the swift provision of humanitarian assistance, including medical supplies, food, water, electricity, and fuel to the Gaza Strip,” as WAFA had reported.
According to The Media Line’s State Department source, the meeting between Blinken and Abbas was “tense” and lasted less than an hour, which was “far less time than anyone expected.” It apparently finished with no joint news conference or statements, highlighting “substantial differences and disagreements” between the US and Palestinian positions.
Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, leader of The Palestinian National Initiative, told The Media Line that the position of the Biden Administration is “totally unacceptable” because it does not support an immediate cease-fire.
“This is what the whole world is demanding, including a huge demonstration taking place in Washington itself. That’s even the opinion of [former] President Obama, and American leaders,” said Barghouti. “I think Mr. Blinken is not only taking the side of the Israelis, but he’s also in complete complicity with what Israel is doing,” he added.
During the meeting, Abbas reportedly insisted on demanding a cease-fire and that the US push for one. He denounced “the genocide and destruction suffered by our Palestinian people in Gaza at the hands of Israel’s war machine, with no regard for the principles of international law,” according to WAFA.
The Media Line source said that Blinken told the Arab foreign ministers he met in Amman that the issue of a cease-fire is absolutely out of the question at present.
Abbas stated that Israel was “fully responsible for what is happening,” adding that “military … solutions will not bring security to Israel.” The PA president then asked the US secretary of state to “stop them [Israel] from committing these crimes immediately.”
Ramallah-based political analyst and former PA spokesperson Nour Odeh told The Media Line, “I think the Biden Administration has dug its heels into a quagmire, and I think it will have a lot to contend with in the region in terms of backlash.”
Abbas emphasized that security and peace “can be achieved by ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, with East Jerusalem as its capital, based on the 1967 borders.”
He also asserted that “Gaza is an integral part of the State of Palestine, and they will bear full responsibilities within the framework of a comprehensive political solution for both the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.”
The two dignitaries discussed the PA’s post-war role in the future of Gaza, a topic that reportedly not only became the focus of conversation but also of disagreement between both parties.
According to private sources, Blinken told Abbas and those who were with him during the meeting that Washington sees the PA as part of a future security authority in the Gaza Strip after Hamas will be eliminated.
The Palestinian response was said to be that while the PA is responsible for its citizens in the Gaza Strip, it will not be a partner except within a comprehensive political project that guarantees the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
“I’m 100% sure that Israel cannot eradicate Hamas and will not be able to eradicate the Palestinian people. The Israeli attacks today on Gaza are not on Hamas; actually, they are on all of the Palestinian population,” Barghouti argued.
Abbas’ Voice
A Palestinian aide to Abbas told The Media Line that it seemed as though America was trying to promote the establishment of a Palestinian security authority in Gaza that is not part of the PA. “Abbas agreeing [to such a security authority] would be considered political suicide,” the aide added.
Abbas said that the PA could return to power in Gaza only if a “comprehensive political solution” is found for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“I think it’s too early to talk about the day after; I don’t think that it’s clear that Israelis or Americans really have a clear end game,” said Odeh, adding, “I think a lot of big goals were advanced in the beginning, and I don’t think they were realistic. But I would say in order for any discussion to be successful, it must center on Palestinians and Palestinian rights.”
The PA’s current situation is very difficult. It is in a state of almost complete helplessness and does not have the ability to influence American or Israeli decision-makers.
Its role now is limited to requesting a cease-fire, re-pumping water, bringing in fuel, re-delivering electricity, and opening the crossings into the Gaza Strip.
Washington has rebuffed calls for a cease-fire and, instead, is backing Israel’s goal of crushing Hamas.
“Any entertaining of the idea that you can dispossess Palestinians in Gaza and then move on would just be sowing the seeds of a far bigger conflict and violent reality for the region as a whole,” warned Odeh.
The former PA spokesperson said that Israel doesn’t want to have to pay the price for reoccupying Gaza with its inhabitants.
“I don’t think it’s feasible for the UN alone or Arab countries or even the PA in its current formation to talk about and pontificate about the day after. The scenario has to be well thought out, and it has to be inclusive, and it has to take in mind that this is about what the Palestinians want and what the Americans can live with,” asserted Odeh.
According to Ghassan Khatib, a lecturer at Birzeit University in Ramallah, the West Bank, “Unfortunately, the US position is not constructive at all, simply because it follows the Israeli approach, which is a security approach that deprives the security events of their political context. And that is a very big mistake,” Khatib told The Media Line.
Last week, Blinken told a Senate hearing that Abbas’ PA should retake control of Gaza after the war, even though it currently exercises only limited autonomy in parts of the West Bank and even though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long sought to sideline it.
“The United States has been neglecting this conflict for a long time, which was one of the causes for the deterioration inside Israel and in Israeli-Palestinian relations. Therefore, the lack of independent policy by the US is the problem rather than their policy,” added Khatib.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, and more than twice as many wounded.
The war in Gaza was triggered by the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre, which killed 1,400 people—mostly civilians—in southern Israel, according to Israeli officials.
“Their whole game about imposing artificial leadership on the people of Gaza and creating a bunch of collateral under the Israeli occupation will never work. We will never accept separating Gaza from the West Bank,” warned Barghouti. “We are one entity and one future. And the only leadership that would have legitimacy is the one that is elected freely and democratically by the Palestinian people,” he added.
“They cannot bypass the PA; they cannot bypass the Palestinian people, and we will never accept any of these plans the Americans and Israelis are talking about,” he concluded.
