Evidence of thaw and signs of détente between Israel and the United States after the last complex days and, in particular, after the resolution of the UN Security Council which for the first time called for a ceasefire in Gaza. Washington did not veto the resolution, sparking Israel's wrath.
Now, while the Israeli forces' offensive against Rafah remains a concrete prospect, the Tel Aviv-Washington dialogue seems destined to restart. “The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has agreed to reschedule the Rafah meeting. We are now working towards a date that works for both sides,” White House spokeswoman Karine said during a briefing. Jean-Pierre, confirming that the Netanyahu government intends to reschedule the visit to the USA of the delegation from the Jewish State previously canceled after the launch of the UN resolution.
The office of Netanyahu has actually informed the White House of his desire to reschedule the visit, an American official previously told NBC.
The visit had – and will have – as its central theme the announced operation in Rafah, which the United States continues to judge extremely negatively. “We think a major ground operation in Rafah is a mistake. We think there are other ways to hit Hamas in Rafah,” said US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, interviewed by Israeli broadcaster Channel 12.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant that “the United States cannot support a major ground offensive in Rafah that does not include a workable plan for the security of the million and a half inhabitants of Gaza who are refugees there,” Kirby continued, underlining that the United States is waiting for the Israeli delegation to Washington to discuss other ways to strike Hamas in the area which hosts almost 2 million civilians.
At the same time, the United States is busy working to keep negotiations alive that could lead to a ceasefire. The US State Department is convinced that there is still room for dialogue between Israel and Hamas on the hostages, even if there remain ''difficult issues to resolve'', said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
“The way these kinds of negotiations are, when you get to the end, when you make progress, the issues that remain are often the most difficult. Usually you don't resolve the most difficult issues first, you resolve them last,” he said Miller. ''Some of the remaining issues need to be resolved. They are some of the most difficult and also where there is the greatest disagreement between Israel and Hamas. We think it is possible to bridge these differences“, he added.
The Barghouti knot
At the same time, the United States raised with the Israeli government the issue of the treatment in prison of Marwan Barghouti, one of the most important Palestinian political figures, following accusations made by his family and the PLO according to which he had suffered physical mistreatment and psychological after the Hamas attacks on 7 October.
The PLO, in particular, accused the Israeli authorities of having committed “torture” and “abuse” on Barghouti, the Fatah leader imprisoned since 2002 in the Jewish state and sentenced to five life sentences for his alleged role in planning the attacks during the Second Intifada. Barghouti, who denied all charges in court, is being held in Megiddo maximum security prison.
US officials said they were aware of the abuse allegations, while the State Department, in response to questions about Barghouti, said in a statement to the Washington Post that it had informed Israel that it must “thoroughly and transparently investigate credible allegations and ensure accountability for any abuses or violations,” stressing that Palestinian detainees must be guaranteed “dignified conditions and in accordance with international law.”
The issue of Barghouti's release is a popular issue among Palestinians who see him as a possible successor to Palestinian National Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas. Barghouti is at the top of the list of prisoners that Hamas wants Israel to release in exchange for the release of the hostages.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Barghouti's son Arab, who lives in the West Bank, claimed that after October 7 his father was physically attacked, placed in dark solitary confinement for 12 days and forced to listen to the Israeli national anthem “at very high volume, from about five in the morning until midnight, for many days”.
A lawyer who met with the Palestinian figure this week told the family that he saw bruises on his right eye and that Barghouti showed bruises on his back and right foot. The lawyer wrote that Barghouti told him that on March 6 “I was beaten for many minutes all over my body, mainly on the face, back and legs. The severity of the beating caused me to collapse to the ground at that point They kept hitting me until I lost consciousness.” A spokesperson for the Israel Prison Service said the service “is a law-abiding organization. We are not aware of these claims.”
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