By Ding Long
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended his ninth trip to the Middle East since October last year and returned to Washington empty-handed on August 20. The next day, US President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the phone and stressed the urgent need to reach an agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages. However, even the US media admitted that their "last-ditch effort" to promote a ceasefire in Gaza had yielded nothing. Various signs indicate that currently there is no possibility of a ceasefire in Gaza, and the situation in the Middle East remains precarious.
Multiple rounds of negotiations have been held between the two sides since the outbreak of the Israel-Palestine conflict in October last year. A three-phase ceasefire agreement proposed by mediators and supported by the UN Security Council has been on the negotiation table. However, disagreements over key details of the ceasefire agreement have made each round of negotiations fruitless. Recently, the resumption of Gaza ceasefire talks in Doha reignited hope within the international community, but still no progress has been made. The parties have now moved to Cairo for further negotiations.
This round of negotiations is taking place against the backdrop of the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh and the involvement of Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthi movement in Yemen in the conflict. The mediators, adopting an "all-or-nothing" approach, hope that these negotiations will work a miracle and turn the tide at this critical juncture in the Middle East. Although Hamas refused to participate in direct talks, Israel, the US, Egypt, and Qatar all sent high-level officials, underscoring the importance placed on these negotiations by all parties. However, given the current situation, the talks in Cairo are overshadowed by uncertainty and the outlook remains bleak as key issues are still unresolved. The negotiations, on which all parties placed great hopes, may not escape the fate of failure.
Given the special relationship between the US and Israel, the US is undoubtedly the country that can exert the greatest influence on Israel. However, despite US officials' efforts and frequent diplomatic engagements, their actions have not yielded positive results. Within just two days this week, contradictory information was released by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the White House regarding the progress of the Gaza ceasefire talks and the positions of the involved parties. These mixed signals from the US on the Israel-Palestine conflict and ceasefire negotiations have emboldened Israel's hardline actions. On the one hand, the US' mediation efforts are driven by self-interest, primarily motivated by domestic political considerations. On the other hand, the US has provided substantial political, military, and economic support to Israel during the conflict. And even during the critical period of ceasefire negotiations, the US approved up to USD 20 billion aid to Israel and significantly increased its military presence in the Middle East. Such biased and self-serving mediation efforts not only failed to bring about positive outcomes but also undermined the US' image as a "fair mediator."
The ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict has dragged on for nearly 11 months, causing 40,000 deaths and nearly 100,000 injuries in the Gaza Strip and it has become the worst humanitarian disaster in the world. This conflict has also spread to other parts of the Middle East. Its spillover effects continuously heighten geopolitical tensions, turning the region into a powder keg that could blast at any time. At the UN Security Council's open meeting on the Israel-Palestine conflict held on August 22, China made it clear that relying on military means to achieve a "complete victory" in Gaza would only lead to more civilian casualties. It would not create the conditions necessary for the rescue of hostages, nor would it bring peace and stability to Israel and the region. The only viable solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict is the political resolution through the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and the implementation of the "two-state solution." China urges influential countries to adopt a sincere, fair, and responsible attitude and urge Israel to cease its military actions in Gaza as soon as possible and to stop the killing of civilians.
The US should put aside its selfishness and genuinely do something to achieve a ceasefire. The international community should also make its utmost efforts to strive for peace and put an end to this bloody conflict in Gaza as soon as possible as the one-year anniversary of the conflict approaches.
(The author is a professor at the Middle East Studies Institute, Shanghai International Studies University.)
Editor's note: Originally published on huanqiu.com, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
