U.S. Pres. Biden’s proposed peace plan for Israel, Gaza in limbo

Transcript

00:00President Joe Biden's proposed peace plan he sought the United Nations Security Council to support

00:05appeared to have an upside and high chances of being accepted by both Israel and Hamas.

00:10But Netanyahu doused the flames of hope claiming Biden's peace plan has no support from Israel

00:17while Hamas later on said it would nix the deal if Biden's plan is not predicated

00:21on a permanent cessation to hostilities. VOA's Patsy Whitakuswara has the full story.

00:27As Israel continues its military campaign in Gaza efforts towards securing a ceasefire face

00:35a stumbling block. Qatar mediating on behalf of Hamas said there is a lack of clarity from

00:41both parties at war. We are seeing contradictory statements coming in from ministries in the

00:47Israeli cabinet. We haven't seen any statements on either side that give us a lot of confidence

00:53in the process. Israeli leaders have vowed to continue military operations against Hamas

00:58until the group is destroyed despite a ceasefire proposal laid out by President Joe Biden last week.

01:05In an interview Biden appeared to agree with the allegations that Benjamin Netanyahu is

01:10prolonging the war to appease his right-wing base. But when asked Tuesday if the Israeli

01:15prime minister is playing politics Biden said no. I don't think so he's trying to work out

01:20a serious problem. The ceasefire plan begins with a six-week temporary pause in fighting in exchange

01:27for some hostages held by Hamas and ultimately moves towards a permanent cessation of hostilities.

01:34As Israel's guarantor in mediation talks the United States said it expects some bargaining

01:38from both sides but is confident that Israel will keep its side of the deal. We have every

01:44expectation that they'll continue to back this proposal because it is theirs and it is in their

01:49interest. It's also in Hamas's interest they say they want their war to end this is a path to end

01:53that war. As Palestinians meet daily destruction and death in Gaza not many share the administration's

02:00optimism including a former U.S. negotiator for the Middle East. My prediction is that even if

02:06both sides accept this which is far from certain given the politics particularly in Israel that if

02:14you're lucky really lucky you'll get through phase one but I don't see much beyond that. Biden

02:20has rallied support from the international community including through a United Nations

02:24Security Council resolution to support the ceasefire proposal. The U.S. resolution does

02:29not include a demand for Israel to halt its operations in Rafah part of another Security

02:35Council resolution pushed by Algeria. The vast majority of Security Council members would like

02:40to see the Rafah operation halt now but if the U.S. can convince other council members that their

02:47proposal is a credible path to a ceasefire including a ceasefire in Rafah then I do imagine

02:53that other council members will compromise. But as civilian casualties continue to mount

02:58prospects for a ceasefire deal appear dim at least for now. Patsy Widaku, Suara Viewing News, Washington.