Lacking personnel, Biden’s administration tries to de-escalate tensions

As the recent round of escalation is unfolding, the administration finds itself with no ambassador in Israel and with no special envoy to the region, with a limited ability to make an impact.

By OMRI NAHMIAS
Updated: MAY 12, 2021 22:24
US PRESIDENT Joe Biden talks about the status of coronavirus vaccinations at the White House on Tuesday. (photo credit: REUTERS)
US PRESIDENT Joe Biden talks about the status of coronavirus vaccinations at the White House on Tuesday.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
WASHINGTON – During his election campaign, Joe Biden emphasized domestic policy, from economic recovery to fighting COVID-19, leaving almost all foreign policy aside.
He did not lay out any plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and almost four months after entering the Oval Office, he is yet to call some leaders in the region. The message between the lines was that the Middle East is not a priority for the administration, and that China, Russia and the multilateral effort to address climate change are the most urgent challenges to US foreign policy which require the president’s attention.
As the recent round of escalation is unfolding, the administration finds itself with no ambassador in Israel and with no special envoy to the region, with a limited ability to make an impact.
And on the fourth day of fighting, the president has yet to address the situation himself. Instead, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken are coordinating the diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended the administration’s approach on Wednesday and said that “a lot of [our engagement] is happening privately through diplomatic channels.”
“We, of course, will nominate a qualified, experienced ambassador to Israel over the coming weeks,” she said at Wednesday’s press briefing. “That’s in process. And when it’s ready, we’ll announce that. But in the meantime, we have great confidence in our team on the ground in Jerusalem, led by a career diplomat, Jonathan Schreier, who enjoys open and regular access to a range of senior officials.”
Just since this weekend, she said, there were more than 25 high-level calls and meetings by senior US officials with senior officials from Israel, the Palestinian Authority and representatives from Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia.
“Just yesterday we had more than 10 phone calls by senior Washington-based officials, including National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s call with his counterpart,” said Psaki.
However, previous rounds of escalation in the region required mediators on the ground, an effect that cannot be achieved in a phone call. On Wednesday, Blinken announced that US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israel and Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr will fly to Israel to try to de-escalate the situation.
MARK DUBOWITZ, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, told The Jerusalem Post that “President Biden seems content to let his national security advisor and secretary of state do the talking for him, and his Iran envoy do the negotiating for him in Vienna.

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“This seems to be a general trend over the last 100 days where the president seems disengaged on foreign policy issues,” Dubowitz said.
“There is no substitute, however, for presidential leadership, and given his connections and decades of experience, he would be expected to be working the phones,” he added. “But perhaps he is content to let the Israelis have a few days of political space to do severe damage to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad before lighting up the switchboards in the region.”
Lucy Kurtzer-Ellenbogen is the director of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict program at the US Institute of Peace.
“Once again this conflict has proven that it will force its way onto a US administration’s agenda,” she told the Post. “There has been valid critique in the past that constant prioritized US engagement on this conflict at the highest levels of the administration is not the proportionate and strategic use of our leverage and resources.
“That said, a pendulum swing in the other direction is equally unhelpful. A de-prioritized and smaller-staffed approach across administrations to proactively address the multiple conflict drivers in this arena does not help head off the type of explosion we are now witnessing.
“With no special envoy appointed, no US ambassador to Israel in place, and no consul-general since the Trump administration took the step of closing the Consulate in Jerusalem, the US administration is left to divert the most senior-level attention when crises such as this emerge,” she said.
“The US relationship and lines of engagement with the Palestinians were still in the process of resetting, following decisions taken over the last few years,” Kurtzer-Ellenbogen continued. “The current moment underscores the urgency of reestablishing effective regular and right-sized channels of engagement, at the same time as it potentially sets back or diverts from progress toward that goal.
“Priority at this immediate point will be for the US to assert its leverage and leadership to push for de-escalation as quickly as possible. This will require working in tandem with its international partners, who have their own sets of leverage to bring to bear on the different actors.”
She went on to say that “when the violence abates – hopefully sooner rather than later – the key will be to maintain such coordinated partnership and focus toward addressing conflict drivers that, if left to fester, will only lead to an all-too familiar sequel to the current moment.”


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