US says it has ‘viable alternatives’ to Rafah invasion when talks resume
Israeli officials will head to Washington to discuss a promised military operation in Rafah, the White House has confirmed, despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scrapping a planned visit this week.
Netanyahu’s cancellation was in protest at the United States abstaining at a United Nations Security Council vote on Monday allowing for the passage of a Gaza ceasefire resolution.
The White House said that during the talks, the US would propose “viable alternatives to ground operations” in Rafah, the city in south Gaza where much of the territory’s population, displaced by months of war, are sheltering.
Netanyahu’s government had agreed “to reschedule the meeting dedicated to Rafah”, said White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre, adding that they were working together to find a “convenient date”.
John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council, said the US still expected Israel not to begin an offensive in Rafah until talks had taken place. He insisted that talks to reschedule the meeting had been “businesslike” but that the US wanted “a robust conversation about what the future looks like for Rafah”.
He added: “We don’t support a major ground operation in Rafah. We think it would be a mistake. We want to talk to our Israeli counterparts about some viable alternatives.”
Kirby declined to comment on reports that the Israeli delegation could arrive at the White House as early as Monday. “We’re probably not going to agree with the Israelis on every single thing when it comes to their military operations, but we both agree on the main important thing, and that is we cannot allow Hamas to be able to conduct another attack.”
Ron Dermer, Israel’s strategic affairs minister, and the national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, are expected to lead the delegation in Washington. The pair joined Netanyahu when he met a US congressional delegation in Jerusalem yesterday.
Netanyahu did not mention Rafah directly in his speech but vowed to eliminate Hamas “not as an idea” but as an organisation. “Nazism wasn’t destroyed as an idea in the Second World War, but Nazis do not govern Germany,” he said.
Israel has pledged to forge ahead with the operation in Rafah, despite aid organisations warning that a wide-scale ground offensive would have catastrophic consequences for civilians.
Israel has conducted targeted air strikes on the city this month while it continues its offensive in Khan Yunis, close to Rafah.
According to the Palestine Red Crescent emergency service, the al-Amal hospital in Khan Yunis “has ceased to function completely after civilians were evacuated”.
The war in Gaza, triggered by Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel last October, has killed more than 32,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority has named the members of a new cabinet, pledging a new technocratic government that could help to rebuild Gaza and fight endemic corruption.
Muhammad Mustafa, appointed as prime minister earlier this month, yesterday announced the names of 22 new ministers who would join him in the government and outlined his vision, in a statement addressed to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
The reshuffle at the highest ranks of the Palestinian Authority, which runs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, comes amid US and other international pressure to present a new face – driven by hopes, however tenuous, that the authority could overcome its credibility problems to play a role in governing what remains of the Gaza Strip after Israel’s ongoing military campaign.
Israel has vowed to crush Hamas, which gained power in Gaza in 2007 after violently ousting the authority. Its targeting of key figures in the Hamas-led government – not just military leaders but also civil servants such as police – has led to a chaotic power vacuum, especially in the aid-starved north.
A “reformed and revitalised” Palestinian Authority could work to meet “the aspirations of the Palestinian people”, Kirby said, adding that it was “too soon to make any broad judgments about this particular new government”.
Analysts said the new cabinet contained few surprises. “Nothing new,” said Tareq Baconi, president of the board of Al-Shabaka, a Palestinian think tank. “Just cosmetic adjustments on a body that has become a central pillar of Israeli apartheid.”
The cabinet appeared to be designed to address both international pressure over corruption and governance but also widespread apathy and discontent with the Palestinian Authority, which was set up after the 1993 Oslo accords to administer the Palestinian territories.
Mustafa said in the statement that he was creating a non-partisan government that could not only help to rebuild and reconstruct Gaza, but also fight corruption and unify the divided Palestinian institutions.
The statement did not address, however, the lack of power held by the Palestinian Authority in Gaza.
It also offered no indication that 88-year-old Abbas would relinquish his role as president. The octogenarian leader has held power for two decades but has not held elections in 18 years, even as his government has grown increasingly unpopular among Palestinians.
During a recent visit to Washington, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said: “We will identify an alternative to Hamas” so that the Israel Defence Forces “may complete its mission”.
The US has pushed Abbas to make significant reforms to the Palestinian Authority, hoping that the body could eventually help with reconstruction in Gaza, providing an alternative to Hamas that might be acceptable to Israelis and Palestinians.
The appointment of Mustafa as prime minister on March 14 dimmed many of those hopes. An economist with a doctorate from George Washington University, Mustafa has been seen as a close ally of Abbas, and his appointment viewed as an indication that Abbas plans to retain political control rather than step back.
In the announcement on Thursday, Mustafa said he would also serve as foreign minister, ending speculation about who would take one of the most high-profile cabinet positions.
Several other well-known figures were named to the cabinet. Muhamad al-Amour, who served as president of the Palestinian Businessmen Association, was appointed economy minister. Ziad Hab al-Reeh, who had formerly served as chief of the Palestinian Authority’s internal intelligence agency, was retained as interior minister.
A spokesperson with Netanyahu’s office said Israeli officials doubted that the new cabinet would change controversial Palestinian Authority policies like the payments to families of people imprisoned by Israel for terrorism offences.
In the West Bank, some Palestinians expressed doubts over the usefulness of the move.
“The solution is to form a national unity government and consult all factions,” said Muhammed Ali, a 57-year-old real estate developer in Shuafat. “What will happen to this government after the war on Gaza ends? It will lose its legitimacy and collapse.”
– The Times, Washington Post