The agreement is “ready to be implemented,” said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in his final foreign policy speech at the Atlantic Council in Washington on Tuesday.“
But right now, we’ve got to wait to get a final word from Hamas in terms of what other countries would do,” he added.
“We await final word from Hamas on its acceptance, and until we get that word, we’ll remain on the brink,” Blinken continued, saying that word could “come at any time... in the hours ahead... in the days ahead.”
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Majed Al-Ansari, told a news conference that talks on the final details were underway after both sides were presented with a text.
US President Joe Biden, whose administration has been taking part alongside an envoy of President-elect Donald Trump, said a deal was close.
With a nod to the uncertain “day-after” plan for the enclave, Blinken said that countries will be reluctant to invest in the future of Gaza’s reconstruction absent “some kind of clear political horizon.”
They will be reluctant to invest “in something that is only going to end up right back where it is now at some point in the future,” he said.
Dealing with the threat that Hamas poses militarily may be necessary, but it’s insufficient without a political dimension, Blinken added.
His speech, seemingly serving as a final reminder to Israel and Hamas why it’s necessary to follow through with the deal, began with reflecting on the October 7 massacre, the Biden administration’s diplomatic efforts, and the US and Israel’s success in weakening Iran.
Multiple outside protesters unaffiliated with the Atlantic Council interrupted Blinken, calling him a “brutal war criminal” and a “secretary of genocide.”
Maintaining his composure, Blinken continued with his speech, which directly critiqued both Israeli and Palestinian leadership for making decisions that put long-term peace out of reach.
He slammed Hamas for trying to kill the idea of a two-state solution and Israel for “systematically undermining the capacity and legitimacy” of the Palestinian Authority, the only viable alternative to Hamas.
However, he disparaged the PA for repeatedly failing to undertake long overdue reforms, further eroding its support among Palestinians.
“The Palestinian Authority’s refusal to consistently and unequivocally condemn Hamas’s killings of October 7 only entrenched doubts among Israelis that the two communities can never live side by side in peace, as have the PA’s payments of the families of terrorists and the antisemitic remarks of its leader,” Blinken said.
He also criticized partners in the region and worldwide for failing to publicly condemn Hamas “amid the chorus of condemnation of Israel.”
Extremists must be held accountable
Blinken said that while Palestinians have a right to self-determination, with that right comes responsibility.Israel should not be expected to accept a Palestinian state that’s led by extremists, one that is militarized or has independently armed militia that aligns with those who reject Israel’s right to exist, like Iran, Blinken continued.
He called on Israelis to abandon the myth that they could carry out “de facto annexation without cost and consequence to Israel’s democracy, to its standing, and to its security.”
The Jewish state was expanding settlements and nationalizing land faster than any other time in the last decade, Blinken said, ignoring the unprecedented growth of legal outposts.
He also said violent attacks by extremist settlers against Palestinian civilians have reached record highs.Blinken then said Israel had pursued its military campaign in Gaza past the point of destroying Hamas’s military capacity and killing the leaders responsible for October 7, convinced that unrelenting military pressure was required to get Hamas to accept a ceasefire and hostage deal on Israel’s terms.
He acknowledged that some questioned whether a different approach would have changed this dynamic, and whether the US put too much pressure or not enough on Israel, Hamas, and Iran.
“We’ve long made the point to the Israeli government that Hamas cannot be defeated by a military campaign alone, and that without a clear alternative, a post-conflict plan and a credible political rise to the Palestinians – Hamas, or something just as dangerous, will grow back,” Blinken said.
“That’s exactly what’s happened in northern Gaza since October 7. Each time Israel completes its military operations and pulls back, Hamas regroups and reemerges because there’s nothing to fill the void,” he added.
According to Blinken, the US State Department assesses that Hamas has recruited almost as many new terrorists as it lost, creating a recipe for “enduring insurgency and perpetual war.”
“The longer the war goes on, the worse the humanitarian situation gets in Gaza,” he said.
Hamas has also “cynically weaponized the suffering of Palestinians,” Blinken added.
However, Hamas often chose to sit back and wait, “believing that the more time passed, the more Palestinians in Gaza suffered – the greater the chances that Iran, Hezbollah, and others would feel forced to attack Israel, sparking a wider war,” Blinken said.
“Those challenges notwithstanding, Israel’s efforts have fallen far short of meeting the colossal scale of need in Gaza,” he said.
Blinken added that he wished he could say with certainty that the Biden administration got every decision right.“I cannot,” he said. “I wish I could tell you that leaders in the region always put their people’s interests ahead of their own. They did not.”
But, he said, the Biden administration continues to believe that the best way to create a more “stable, secure and prosperous Middle East and deal a lasting blow to Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and the entire so-called ‘Axis of Resistance’ is through forging a more integrated region.”
“The key to achieving that... is ending this conflict in a way that realizes the long-standing aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security in states of their own,” per Blinken.
As much influence as the US wields in the Middle East, Blinken said, it cannot dictate outcomes, and in the end, whether the region takes the path toward greater integration will ultimately come down not to the US but to the decisions of its leaders and people.
Israel’s deepest desire from its founding has been to be accepted and treated as a normal state in the region and the world, Blinken continued, with all the rights and responsibilities that implies.
The Jewish state must decide what relationship it wants with the Palestinians, and there cannot be the illusion that Palestinians will accept being non-people without national rights, Blinken said.
“Seven million Israeli Jews and some five million Palestinians are rooted in the same land. Neither is going anywhere,” he added.