October 21, 2023
Today, a convoy of 20 trucks crossed into Gaza from Egypt to bring food, water, and hospital equipment. Secretary of State Antony Blinken thanked “our partners in Egypt and Israel, and the United Nations, for facilitating the safe passage of these shipments through the Rafah border crossing” after “days of exhaustive U.S. diplomatic engagement in the region and an understanding President Biden reached with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during his recent historic visit to Israel.” Since then, Special Envoy David Satterfield has worked to get the aid flowing.
Israel had vowed not to allow any aid to Gaza until Hamas released the 210 hostages it is holding, but Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant explained that officials had to back down: “The Americans insisted and we are not in a place where we can refuse them. We rely on them for planes and military equipment. What are we supposed to do? Tell them no?”
The convoy is a test to see if Hamas will permit the aid to get to civilians. Blinken warned that if it interferes, “it will hinder the international community from being able to provide this aid. Civilian lives must be protected, and assistance must urgently reach those in need. We will continue to work closely with partners in the region to stress the importance of adhering to the law of war, supporting those who are trying to get to safety or provide assistance, and facilitating access to food, water, medical care, and shelter for citizens wherever they are located in Gaza.”
While more than 200 trucks are waiting at the border and Egypt says the crossing is now open permanently, the next convoy is not expected to cross the border until Monday, even as conditions in Gaza worsen.
The U.S. is continuing to work to get U.S. citizens and their families out of Gaza through Egypt.
Also today, Egypt held a hastily convened peace summit with leaders from Arab countries, Europe, Africa, and North America to figure out how to stop the violence in Gaza. While the parties were unable to agree on a statement, there was a broad consensus that Israel must abide by the laws of war, which prohibit making war on civilians. (Israel claims it honors this prohibition as it tries to eliminate Hamas and its infrastructure, and also to recover the hostages Hamas is holding. Hostage-taking is also prohibited by the rules of war.)
Neither Israel nor Hamas was at the meeting. The head of the Palestinian Authority (which has partial control of the West Bank), Mahmoud Abbas, spoke for the Palestinians. He decried what he called war crimes as Israeli airstrikes kill civilians, and called for a two-state solution to the crisis, although a recent Gallup poll suggests a strong majority of Palestinians do not support that effort.
Abbas’s call harks back to the longstanding plan for two independent states that Hamas rejects and that the 2020 Abraham Accords negotiated by the Trump administration undermined by normalizing relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain without providing for a Palestinian state. Since then, Israel has accelerated the settlement of Israelis on Palestinian lands in the West Bank.
The call to resurrect a two-state solution was echoed by Egypt’s president Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II, who do not want Palestinians displaced by Israel to destabilize their countries. Chinese leader Xi Jinping backed that idea on Thursday in his first statement on the crisis, and in his own speech on Thursday, Biden also said, “We cannot give up on a two-state solution.”
Meanwhile, Israel has increased its warnings to those in the north of Gaza of an approaching ground invasion, in which those who do not evacuate risk being “identified as a partner in a terrorist organization.”
As this conflict plays out, observers have already identified widespread disinformation about it on social media. “X,” formerly known as Twitter, is one of the worst actors.
In the U.S., such disinformation pits Americans against each other, and today the U.S. sent a cable to more than 100 countries warning that U.S. intelligence officials assess that Russia is using such methods to affect the elections around the world. A senior State Department official told reporters that Russia was so successful in amplifying disinformation about the 2020 U.S. election and the COVID-19 pandemic that the Kremlin decided to up its game.
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Notes:
https://www.state.gov/humanitarian-assistance-for-gaza/
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-759762
https://www.mei.edu/publications/one-state-solution-existential-threat-jordan
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/21/world/middleeast/peace-summit-gaza-egypt.html
https://www.turkiyenewspaper.com/politics/16829
https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/19/china/china-xi-israel-hamas-ceasefire-comment-intl-hnk/index.html
https://news.gallup.com/poll/512828/palestinians-lack-faith-biden-two-state-solution.aspx
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/21/idf-prepares-for-ground-invasion-00122881
https://apnews.com/article/palestinian-jordan-egypt-israel-refugee-502c06d004767d4b64848d878b66bd3d
https://news.northeastern.edu/2023/10/17/magazine/two-state-solution-israel-palestine/
Twitter (X)
https://twitter.com/WorldAffairsPro/status/1715673980231639142
https://twitter.com/CBSEveningNews/status/1715918168365944971
Always excellent, dear Doctor. However, in the phrase "Since then, Israel has accelerated the settlement of Israelis on Palestinian lands in the West Bank", you omitted the crucial word "illegal".
I hold no brief for Hamas, or its atrocities. I also cannot support the appalling actions of Netanyahu. The Gazans have been trapped in an open prison for years and there is no political or moral justification for bombing one of the most densely populated areas in the world. There are no bomb shelters, nowhere is safe. Cutting off power, water, food is a crime against humanity. Collective punishment is a war crime. Forcible moving of populations is a war crime.
This is not all, of course. Armed "settlers" on the West Bank are attacking their neighbours. Places of worship of Muslims and Jews all over the world are vulnerable to attack by extremists and the ignorant, whipped up by those in whose interest it is to encourage them.
Biden and Sunak and others "stand by" Israel unequivocally, uncritically, and with no understanding of the history. The Israeli government has an extraordinary record of flouting international law, knowing that it will not be held to account.
Hamas appalling, inhumane actions are the pustulent bursting of a boil that has been festering for years.
I apologise for this lengthy post, coming as it does from a place of a love of humanity, of peace, of co-existence.
As I read HCR's letter this morning the question of "Where is Russia in all of this?" kept coming to mind. The question, of course, was answered in the last paragraphs.
Vladimir Putin must be put at the top of the list of bad actors of the world. It is gratifying to see his team of agents operating in the US House of Representatives is having a difficult time of it of late as some members of what has become the Putin Party seem to be awakening from a deep sleep. And his top US agent is likely to be neutralized by mounting legal troubles. However, Putin's ambition and ability to be a disruptive force in as many places in the world as possible, especially in the US, is going to continue as long as that little man is in power. Putin is a leader who desires to be welcomed into the organizations of the civilized world, yet he keeps demonstrating reasons why that should never happen.