Exit from Gaza mulled for Hamas fighters – WSJ — RT World News
An arrangement similar to the agreement negotiated by Reagan to lift the blockade of Beirut is said to be being discussed between the United States and Israel.
US President Joe Biden’s administration is said to be seeking a solution to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza similar to what President Ronald Reagan imposed on Israel during the 1982 siege of Beirut.
Reagan pressured then-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to stop bombing the Lebanese capital. The truce brokered by the United States included the transfer of thousands of PLO fighters from neighboring Israel to other countries.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Washington was discussing a similar arrangement over Gaza with the Israelis.
Under the proposal, thousands of Palestinian Hamas fighters would be allowed to leave the besieged Strip. The newspaper did not attribute the idea directly to the United States, and described it as part of it “The development of Israeli and American talks about who will manage Gaza” After the end of hostilities.
Forced expulsion would undermine the group’s power base in the region. The report indicated that the feasibility of the idea is still in doubt. “I do not see them as rational as the PLO was.” An Israeli official told WSJ. “It is a more religious jihadist organization linked to the ideas of Iran.”
Israel helped Hamas rise to power, seeing it as a useful counterweight to the secular Palestine Liberation Organization and its political wing Fatah, which currently controls the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the policy, which was not publicly acknowledged, was “It was treating the Palestinian Authority as a burden and Hamas as an asset.” According to The Times of Israel.
The division among the Palestinians helped Israel derail talks on a two-state solution to the conflict in the Middle East. The Wall Street Journal said that Israel backed down during the talks from granting the Palestinian Authority control over Gaza after the virtual removal of Hamas.
The large number of civilian casualties inflicted by Israeli forces during the siege of Beirut caused a diplomatic rift between Washington and West Jerusalem. Reagan stopped the transfer of cluster munitions to Israel, and even described the violence in Lebanon as similar to violence “holocaust” In communications with Begin.
The Israeli leader said he was hurt by the comparison, but downplayed the significance of the entire phone call “A big misunderstanding.”
Biden is under increasing pressure from lawmakers from his party to link military aid to Israel to a reduction in bombing in Gaza. The president told reporters last week that he was “A worthwhile thought” But the White House later clarified that the statement did not indicate any change in policy.
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