‘War has to end now’: EU’s top diplomat backs truce proposal
Josep Borrell has lent his support to the new three-phase plan to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.
“All our support to Biden roadmap to an enduring ceasefire and the release of hostages leading to a permanent cessation of hostilities, withdrawal of [Israeli army] and reconstruction efforts to commence,” he said.
“The war has to end now.”
All our support to @POTUS Biden roadmap to an enduring ceasefire and the release of hostages leading to a permanent cessation of hostilities, withdrawal
of IDF and reconstruction efforts to commence.
The war has to end now.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) May 31, 2024
Biden might face some opposition at home as well
US Congress invites Israel’s PM Netanyahu to address lawmakers
Democratic and Republican leaders in the US Congress invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to deliver an address within weeks to lawmakers, House Speaker Mike Johnson says.
“We join the state of Israel in your struggle against terror, especially as Hamas continues to hold American and Israeli citizens captive and its leaders jeopardize regional stability,” said an invitation from Johnson signed by all four party leaders in the House and Senate.
Hamas ready to ‘engage positively’ based on permanent ceasefire
Hamas says it’s ready to “engage positively and constructively with any proposal” based on “a permanent ceasefire”.
“Hamas looks positively on the remarks in US President Joe Biden’s speech today, and his call for a permanent ceasefire, withdrawal of occupation forces from the Gaza Strip, reconstruction and prisoner exchange,” a statement said.
Hamas added it wants the “return of the displaced to their homes throughout Gaza and completing a serious prisoner-exchange deal if the occupation [Israel] explicitly commits to that”.
“We consider this American position and the regional and international convictions of the need to put an end to the war on Gaza to be a result of the legendary steadfastness of our people and their courageous resistance,” it said.
‘Hamas must accept this deal’: UK Foreign Minister Cameron
David Cameron says Hamas must accept the Gaza war proposal the US president announced on behalf of Israel.
“As we’ve long argued a stop in the fighting can be turned into a permanent peace if we are all prepared to take the right steps. Let’s seize this moment and bring this conflict to an end,” Cameron wrote.
With a new hostage agreement on the table, Hamas must accept this deal so we can see a stop in the fighting, the hostages released and returned to their families and a flood of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
As we’ve long argued a stop in the fighting can be turned into a permanent…
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) May 31, 2024
Barking up the wrong tree... Netanyahu must accept this deal.
‘Genocide must end,’ American Muslim rights group says after Biden speech
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says it supports the ceasefire proposal detailed by Biden “if he is telling the truth”.
“The genocide and US support for it must end. US military aid for Israel’s occupation must end,” CAIR said in a statement.
“Israeli leaders must be held accountable at the International Criminal Court for the crimes they have committed. Gaza must be rebuilt and the Palestinian people must be able to live in peace and justice in a free and independent state.”
If President Biden is telling the truth when he claims that there is a proposal on the table for an indefinite ceasefire that would immediately end the far-right Israeli government’s genocide in Gaza, that is a positive and long overdue step that the Biden administration should… https://t.co/jQvWeahWBz
— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) May 31, 2024
I'm not getting my hopes up. Netanyahu, Ben Gvir and Smotrich are the ones that need to be convinced and they are dead set on continuing the war in order to stay in power. Biden is trying to pull a fast one on them, he better back it up with real threats of sanctions and no more military aid to get the deal done.
The realist in me says, this is just another distraction from the fact Israel has confirmed they are in central Gaza and continue to destroy the last remaining town in Gaza.
‘This is the deal Netanyahu has already said no to’
Omar Baddar, a US-based political analyst, tells Al Jazeera the Gaza truce proposal announced by Biden appears similar to previous ones.
“This is a proposal that was effectively present from day one. Since October to this day, this is effectively the deal that was on the table, and it was Israeli rejectionism that kept us from achieving that deal where there’s an end in the war in exchange for hostages and prisoners,” Baddar said.
“President Biden understands having this war drag well past his election is not going to be something that actually works for him politically. … I think that this is why he’s putting his foot down at this point and placing enormous pressure upon Israel to accept the ceasefire deal.
“He’s presenting it as an Israeli offer, interestingly enough, but I think that’s more of a means to try to put Netanyahu in a spot where it becomes more difficult for him to say no to this. Because we know that this is the deal Netanyahu has already said no to.”
