Violence in the West Bank has reached “intolerable levels” and poses a threat to peace and security throughout the Middle East. On the eve of Antony Blinken's umpteenth visit to the region, Joe Biden takes a clear position towards extremist Israeli settlers and announces sanctions against four of them guilty of attacks on Palestinian civilians. A measure that unleashes the anger of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the most radical wing of the Israeli government. In the meantime, according to Qatari mediators, there is progress in the truce between Hamas and Israel, while the US is now ready to respond to attacks by pro-Iran groups in Iraq and Syria. «The situation in the West Bank, with particularly high levels of extremist settler violence, forced displacement of people and destruction of property, has reached intolerable levels and constitutes a serious threat to the peace, security and stability of the West Bank and Gaza, of Israel and the entire Middle East”, reads the executive order of the commander-in-chief which imposed measures against four settlers involved in “acts of violence, as well as threats and attempts to destroy or take possession of Palestinian property”.
In this case, these involve financial sanctions – the affected individuals will not be able to access the American system and, vice versa, US citizens will not be able to do business with them – and limits on visas. Naturally, Israel did not like the initiative at all, with Netanyahu defending the settlers by calling them “law-abiding citizens” while the ultra-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich went so far as to accuse Biden of “anti-Semitism”. Meanwhile, with the arrival of the Secretary of State in Israel, the Biden administration is trying to simultaneously carry out the diplomatic offensive. The spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, Majed al-Ansari, announced that he had received “an initial positive response” from Hamas on the draft agreement drawn up at the Paris summit, adding that “Israel has also accepted the proposal to cease fire”. The agreement has not yet been finalized and some details are still being worked out, but an agreement between the two parties on the substance is a big step forward. A Palestinian source close to the negotiations said Hamas was unlikely to reject the hostage deal but would insist on an end to the war and a complete withdrawal from the Strip, conditions Netanyahu has currently ruled out.
But if signs of some timid progress are arriving from Gaza, tension continues to rise in the rest of the region. After the attack by the pro-Iran group 'Islamic Resistance in Iraq' that killed three American soldiers in Jordan, the United States has approved plans for a series of attacks against “Iranian personnel and facilities” in Iraq and Syria. Speaking at the Pentagon, in the first press conference after his hospitalization, Lloyd Austin reiterated that “aggressions against US soldiers will no longer be tolerated”. “We will continue to work to avoid an expansion of the conflict in the region – assured the Secretary of Defense – but we will do everything necessary to defend the United States, our interests and our people and we will decide how and when”. Regarding the timing of the attacks against the groups supported by the Tehran regime, administration sources told CBS that the weather will be decisive: the United States has the ability to carry out attacks even in bad weather but prefers to have better visibility to avoid civilian casualties . Meanwhile, Iran has decided to reduce the presence of senior Pasdaran officers in Syria following the Israeli air raids against members of the Revolutionary Guards and, perhaps, in anticipation of the American reaction.
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