US stance on Middle East crisis raises concern, threatens stability

CAIRO — Amid the escalating Palestine-Israel conflict and growing global calls for de-escalation and increased humanitarian aid for Gaza, US President Biden's request to Congress for $14.3 billion in military assistance to Israel has raised concerns.

Biden argued on Friday that this move would enhance Israel's security. However, analysts and critics worry that it could increase uncertainty in the Middle East.

Washington's foreign policy on the Palestinian question has impeded the early resolution of the conflict, according to Middle Eastern political watchers, who warned that allowing the current hostilities in Gaza to persist will only intensify the vicious cycle of hatred and confrontation between Israel and Palestine, making it more difficult to achieve peaceful coexistence in the long run.

More than two weeks into the deadly conflict, the United States has not only bolstered its military presence in the Middle East but has also provided extensive military aid to Israel. Additionally, it has twice used veto power at the United Nations Security Council to block resolutions concerning the situation in Palestine.

These actions have stirred criticism, leading to protests both at home and abroad, including the resignation of Josh Paul, a senior official in the US State Department, who believed the US government's actions were "an impulsive reaction "based on "intellectual bankruptcy".

The official told US media that many of his colleagues in the federal government and Congress shared similar sentiments and fully understood his decision to resign.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged in a message last week to all State Department employees that the conflict had resulted in disagreements among US diplomats, presenting both professional and emotional challenges.

Internationally, Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya accused the US of "hypocrisy" and "double standards" after Washington vetoed Russia's draft calling for an immediate cease-fire and Brazil's draft calling for humanitarian pauses to allow full, safe and unhindered access to UN agencies and their partners.

Brazil's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Sergio Danese expressed deep disappointment over the Brazilian draft's failure to pass. French Permanent Representative, Nicolas de Riviere, also voiced regret.

US actions since the beginning of the conflict have also sparked protests globally, with citizens in many countries expressing their discontent. Demonstrations outside US embassies in Jordan and Lebanon featured anti-US slogans, while protests in Teheran saw the burning of Israeli and US flags.

In the US, hundreds of protesters packed the US House of Representatives office building, calling for a cease-fire between Israel and Palestine and leading to arrests by the police.

Escalating tensions

On Wednesday, Biden arrived in Israel to demonstrate his support for Israel, just hours after an explosion at a hospital in Gaza killed hundreds, further escalating tensions and resulting in the cancellation of a summit with Arab leaders.

The cancellation of the summit, which cut Biden's Middle East tour to a "mini visit" lasting less than eight hours, is seen as "an obvious message that the Arab countries don't welcome the US president", said Mokhtar Ghobashy, deputy chairman of the Cairo-based Arab Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

Ghobashy said the Arab world is not happy with the White House's "unfair" foreign policy regarding Israel and Palestine, adding that it has a record of adopting "unjust" foreign policies to serve its own interests.

"Anyone who sees one side as entirely blameless and the other as exclusively at fault has lost the credibility to act as an impartial arbiter," Ghobashy said.

While the US presented itself as a main sponsor of the Palestine-Israel negotiations, it has in fact consistently failed to uphold its commitments over the years.

The pledges made by the Biden administration, such as advocating Israeli-Palestinian peace, reopening the consulate general responsible for Palestinian affairs in Jerusalem, and halting the Israeli settlement expansion, have remained unattended to. Despite endorsing a "two-state solution", the administration has taken little action toward achieving this goal.

"Washington does not care about what Arabs want" and only acts to serve its interests, said Makram Rabah, an academic at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon.

"What the United States has done now is calling for war," he said, noting that with two US aircraft carriers patrolling the Mediterranean Sea, the region is now at a greater risk of a potential broader conflict than ever before.

Xinhua