U.S. sanctions 4 settlers, amid broader push to end Gaza war
The United States sanctioned 4 Israeli settlers under a new executive order targeting extremist violence in the West Bank, amid other steps Washington is taking to try to wind down Israel war in Gaza.
The United States today sanctioned four Israeli nationals under a new executive order signed by President Biden targeting perpetrators of extremist violence and intimidation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, amid a broader push by Washington to try to help negotiate an extended ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, get over 100 Israeli hostages freed, and get regional buy-in for a longer-term path for enduring peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians.
“This is a direct answer to the dramatic increase in violence that we’ve seen by settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank since the 7th of October,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told journalists flying with Biden today to campaign events in Michigan.
“Israel must do more to stop violence against civilians in the West Bank and hold accountable those responsible for it,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement announcing the unusual action.
The Biden administration has now “realized that so long as this war goes on, it is going to lead us to escalation it doesn’t want, that might get out of control,” said Shibley Telhami, with the University of Maryland.
The State Department identified the four individuals targeted for financial sanctions under the new executive order today as:
*David Chai Chasdai, who a State Department fact sheet described as having “initiated and led a riot,…assaulting Palestinian civilians…in Huwara, which resulted in the death of a Palestinian civilian.”
*Einan Tanjil, who the fact sheet alleged was “involved in assaulting Palestinian farmers and Israeli activists by attacking them with stones and clubs, resulting in injuries.”
*Shalom Zicherman, who it said “assaulted Israeli activists…in the West Bank,…and cornered at least two of the activists and injured both.”
*Yinon Levi, who the State Department said “regularly led groups of settlers from the Meitarim Farm outpost that assaulted Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, threatened them with additional violence if they did not leave their homes, burned their fields, and destroyed their property.”
The U.S. action freezes any property or financial assets those designated have in the United States, prohibits U.S. persons or those residing in or transiting the United States from having financial transactions with them; and bars their entry to the United States.
While U.S. officials said that the administration is not currently contemplating sanctioning far-right ministers in the Israeli government who are viewed as championing settler provocations, it is worth noting that Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir reportedly served in 2014 as the lawyer for one of the men sanctioned by the U.S. today, David Chai Chasdai.
U.S. reviewing options for recognizing Palestinian state
The unusual U.S. action directly targeting settler extremism came a day after the State Department acknowledged internal work on possible U.S. recognition of a Palestinian state.
“Yes, we support the establishment an independent Palestinian state, and we do a lot of work inside the government to think about how to bring that about,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told journalists at the State Department briefing Wednesday (Jan. 31) following an Axios report that the State Department is reviewing options for possible recognition of a Palestinian state.
“We are actively pursuing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state – with real security guarantees for Israel, because we do believe that is the best way to bring about lasting peace and security for Israel, for Palestinians and for the region,” Miller said.
The United States sees the current effort to get a new extended humanitarian pause between Israel and Hamas that would secure the release of the over 100 hostages still held by the terrorist group as the key breakthrough needed to get an enduring ceasefire and work on a longer term security arrangement, the top US diplomat for the Middle East said today.
“We believe this hostage deal is a critical starting point,” Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Barbara Leaf told journalists on a call today, before heading for another trip to the region, her sixth since the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre that killed over 1,200 Israelis.
“Ultimately,… there is a pathway that also has to be built towards Palestinian statehood,” Leaf said. “Ultimately, peace and stability and security for Israelis and for Palestinians is going to come about through a negotiated pathway to Palestinian statehood, and that’s something we’re committed to.”
“We are actively working for peace, security, dignity for the Israeli people and the Palestinian people,” President Biden said at the National Prayer Breakfast this morning.
“I’m engaged on this day and night and working…to find the means to bring our hostages home, to ease the humanitarian crisis, and to bring peace to Gaza and Israel — an enduring peace with two states for two peoples,” he said.
Goal: Immediate humanitarian pause -> sustainable ceasefire
On a trip through the Middle East, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said he met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday “to discuss the UK’s goal of an immediate humanitarian pause in Gaza, followed by a sustainable ceasefire, without a return to fighting.”
“We continue to work with partners on a route to a sustainable ceasefire and longer term political solutions,” Cameron wrote in a tweet following a meeting with Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi on Jan. 30.
Qatari officials were cited today indicating that Hamas had received the latest hostage release/extended ceasefire proposal, and was expected to offer its response in the next few days.
US realizes needs Gaza war to end to avoid escalation
The U.S. administration has realized that it cannot avoid escalation in the region so long as the Israel war against Hamas in Gaza continues, said Telhami, a Middle East and public opinion expert with the Brookings Institution.
“I think that the administration is coming to grips with three important conclusions that are shaping its policy,… as the President gets closer to…our elections in November,” Telhami, the Anwar Sadat professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, told me. “One is that they have obviously now…realized that so long as this war goes on, it is going to lead us to escalation it doesn’t want, that might get out of control.
“And we've seen that initially with the Houthis and then now we see it with that attack that killed American soldiers in Jordan,” Telhami said. “The President had originally thought that he was going to have this thing behind him by the end of 2023.”
The second thing that has become obvious to them is without some “irreversible” U.S. step towards recognizing a Palestinian state, Telhami said, is that many in the region are not going to invest in helping them with post-war stabilization and reconstruction.
“That’s why you see all these scenarios that they're trying to figure out how do they recognize a Palestinian state,” Telhami said. “Because they’ve discovered that there’s no trust and no one’s going to stay with them ….[unless they] do something irreversible…because everybody has been promised over and over again for decades.”
Finally, the war is damaging to Biden politically in a high stakes election year, Telhami said.
“The longer a ceasefire is delayed, the harder it is for them politically, especially among Muslim and Arab Americans,” he said. “But it goes well beyond Arab and Muslim Americans. I mean, there were so many constituents in all the polling…The vast majority of Democrats support a ceasefire, even nationally, beyond Democrats, you are talking about African Americans, Hispanic Americans, women, young people under 45 [years old], all these groups.”
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