US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave his final policy statement on Tuesday, before the Biden administration hands over the keys to the White House to President-elect Donald Trump next week.
Speaking at the Atlantic Council in Washington, Blinken offered a defence of his Middle East policy and sought to provide more details about how the administration envisions Gaza‘s future.
Here are five takeaways from his statement.
Status of ceasefire negotiations
Blinken again voiced optimism that a prisoner-captives exchange deal between Hamas and Israel to end the war in Gaza was close, leaving the possibilities of its success or failure with the Palestinians – despite Hamas approving the deal while opposition voices are coming out of Israel.
“Over the past several weeks, our intensive efforts have brought us to the brink of full and final agreement,” he said.
“On Sunday, the US, Qatar, and Egypt put forward a final proposal. The ball is now in Hamas’ court. If Hamas accepts, the deal is ready to be concluded and implemented.”
Blinken failed to speculate about when a deal would be reached and held out the possibility that negotiations over the first phase of the truce may continue after Trump’s inauguration on 20 January. As of Wednesday morning, the deal has still not been finalised.
An outline of a post-war Gaza
Blinken reiterated the administration’s plan for the Palestinian Authority to assume control of Gaza after the war, and international institutions including the UN would be called on to manage the reconstruction process.
“International partners” would be invited to help set up an interim administration, which would be comprised of Gazans and representatives from the PA.
With funding and support from the international community, the administration would take responsibility for providing essential public services before handing control of Gaza to a “fully reformed PA administration as soon as feasible”.
This would all take place in close coordination with a senior UN official.
Other countries would contribute peacekeeping troops to reestablish security in the strip, with responsibilities gradually handed over to a US-trained PA-led security force.
Details of the plan still elusive
Though Blinken spoke of plans for Gaza’s future, the roadmap presented remained vague, with no indication of how reconstruction would be funded, how an interim administration could be set up, or which countries would participate in the international security force.
Equally importantly, the evident political roadblocks to a PA-led Gaza administration remained unaddressed, with Israel refusing to accept the presence of the PA in Gaza and with Hamas likely remaining a viable political force in the strip post-ceasefire agreement.
A word of criticism for Israel
Blinken called on Israel to abandon its goal of annexing occupied Palestinian land and accused it of “systematically undermining” the PA by withholding tax revenues and expanding settlements.
“Israel’s government has systematically undermined the capacity and legitimacy of the only viable alternative to Hamas, the PA,” he said, adding that it was “turning a blind eye” to “unprecedented” growth in illegal settlements.
‘Secretary of genocide’
Blinken’s speech was interrupted on three separate occasions by pro-Palestinian protesters, who condemned the Biden administration’s decision to send billions of dollars of weapons to Israel and accused him of lying to Congress about its legal assessment of Israel’s siege on Gaza.
“You will forever be known as ‘secretary of genocide’; you have the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent people on your hands,” one woman shouted before being escorted from the room.
