CHINA BROKERS A PEACE DEAL IN PALESTINE ISRAEL ITCHES FOR WAR

Sandhya Jain

 CHINA BROKERS A PEACE DEAL IN PALESTINE

 ISRAEL ITCHES FOR WAR

The article retraces the evolution of the conflict in West Asia, marked by the escalation of the Israeli operations in Gaza and of the reciprocal attacks between Hezbollah and the Israel Defense Force (IDF). Prime Minister Netanyahu has so far derailed the negotiations for a ceasefire and a prisoner swap that threaten his tenuous hold on power. The Israeli Government and its US backers are worried about China’s successful initiative in support of a United National Reconciliation Government’to rule Gaza. China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and other Arab and African states are behind the Beijing Declaration on Ending Division and Strengthening Palestinian Unity whereas Iran is heightening its collaboration with Hezbollah, Syria, the Iraqi Islamic Resistance, and Yemen’s Houthis.

 SANDHYA JAIN

        Nudged by Saudi Arabia which called upon the international community to recognise Palestine as an independent state (27 July 2024), Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani and Egyptian spy chief Abbas Kamel met with CIA director Bill Burns and Mossad director David Barnea in Rome (28 July 2024) to discuss modalities for a permanent ceasefire and exchange of Hamas-held hostages for Palestinians incarcerated in Israel, to end the crippling war in Gaza, Palestine.

 Anxious to scuttle both the ceasefire and prisoner swap negotiations that could end his political career and cold-shouldered by Democratic and Republican Party leaders during a recent visit to the United States, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu escalated tensions dramatically. A Palestinian peace deal facilitated by Beijing was also factored in.

On 31 July 2024, Hamas’s key negotiator for peace, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in Teheran and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was killed in Beirut. However, Israel’s claim to have eliminated Qassam Brigades chief Marwan Issa and Hamas commander Mohammed al-Deif in the Gaza Str ip, and Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Forcescommander Amir Ali Hajizadeh in Damascus, Syria, were denied or unconfirmed at the time of writing.

The assassinations come close on the heels of China’s diplomatic coup in uniting all 14 Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Fatah, in a “national unity” agreement aimed at maintaining Palestinian control over Gaza after the war ends. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who visited the United States at the same time the agreement was being signed in Beijing on 23 July 2024, shrugged aside the mounting Western criticism of Palestinian casualties and declared his intention to attack Hezbollah in Lebanon.