Washington should leverage its influence to end Israel's 'punishment' of Palestinians

Smoke rises during Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, on Dec 14, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

This is an editorial from China Daily.

Washington's unquestioning support of Israel has emboldened Tel Aviv to intensify its military operations against Hamas, which UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned risks "complete collapse" of the territory's humanitarian system and civil order.

Guterres has been outspoken on both the Hamas attacks on Israel and the very high death toll of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. But despite his calls for an immediate cease-fire and the mounting opposition and pressure from the world community, US President Joe Biden continues to push for more US aid to Israel, turning a blind eye to the fact that Israel's military operation has killed more than 18,000 Palestinians since Oct 7.

The US has long deemed Israel to be its most important ally in the Middle East and it has unswervingly thrown its weight behind the country. Not least by repeatedly using its veto power in the United Nations Security Council to block resolutions calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and humanitarian assistance for Palestinian civilians, despite the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave continuing to worsen.

Guterres has made no bones about how he views the situation, saying at a forum in Doha on Dec 10 that "the preeminent forum for the peaceful resolution of international disputes is paralyzed by geostrategic divisions". It was a sentiment echoed by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the first meeting of the China-Saudi Arabia-Iran trilateral joint committee on Friday in Beijing. Speaking at the dialogue mechanism established to support the normalization of Iran and Saudi Arabia's relations, Wang Yi said the Middle East should no longer be a venue for geopolitical competition between big powers.

Wang said that the most urgent task is to promote a ceasefire in Gaza, to stop the war, to promote humanitarian assistance, and to resume the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.

The Israel-Palestine conflict is not limited to Gaza. It has already spilled over to other parts of the region, involving more players there. Several world shipping giants announced over the weekend that they were suspending crossings of the Red Sea as commercial ships were increasingly the targets of missile attacks.

It seems that only the US has the leverage to rein in Israel at this stage so that a cease-fire can be brokered. But Biden's strongest rebuke to Israel so far has been the acknowledgment of its "indiscriminate bombing" of Gaza. Standing unconditionally behind Israel, the US has lost any claim to the moral high ground and it has even been vilified as being complicit in ethnic cleansing.

In the face of the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza, the US should put aside its selfish strategic calculations and fulfill its obligation to uphold and fully implement the UN General Assembly resolution passed during the special emergency session on Dec 12.