The US Middle East policy backfires on itself

"The Gaza War has seriously damaged the credibility and deterrence of the United States. Washington cannot persuade Israel to suspend its actions in Gaza, even for a few hours," wrote an article on the website of Saudi Arabia's "Arab News" daily.

Analysts point out that the latest outbreak of the Palestinian Israeli conflict is related to the long-term policy stance of the United States in the Middle East aimed at maintaining its own hegemony, reflecting the backlash effect caused by the Biden administration's Middle East policy. Meanwhile, this conflict will inevitably scatter and consume the strategic resources of the United States, disrupting its diplomatic agenda.

The direct participants in this round of the Palestinian Israeli conflict are the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Israel, but many analysts believe that as Israel's most important ally, the United States has an inescapable responsibility for the development of the Palestinian Israeli issue to this point.

On the one hand, the long-standing bias of the US government towards Israel has exacerbated the conflict between Palestine and Israel. Especially during the presidency of former President Trump, the United States has reversed course on a series of important issues, including relocating the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, no longer recognizing Jewish settlements on the West Bank as "not in compliance with international law", and launching the so-called "New Middle East Peace Plan" that disregards the "two country plan". After taking office in 2021, the Biden administration only verbally supported the "two-state solution" and did not effectively constrain Israel's settlement expansion and other actions.

On the other hand, with the shift of US strategic focus, the Palestinian Israeli issue has been marginalized in the US Middle East policy framework in recent years. The "extreme pressure" on Iran is the main theme of the Trump administration's Middle East policy. Due to geopolitical interests and domestic political considerations, the Trump administration has facilitated the establishment of diplomatic relations between some Arab countries and Israel. The Biden administration continues the path of its predecessor and attempts to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which further shakes the Palestinian side's confidence in a peaceful resolution of the Palestinian Israeli issue.

Currently, the support of the United States for Israeli military operations and the severe humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip have brought multiple pressures to the Biden administration's domestic and foreign affairs.

The large-scale military aid provided by the United States to Israel and the rejection of draft resolutions related to the Palestinian Israeli situation by the United Nations Security Council on multiple occasions have put the United States on the opposite side of the international community. The hypocrisy of its so-called "values diplomacy" has been condemned by many countries.

At the same time, internal pressure within the US government is also increasing. According to US media reports, over 500 officials from approximately 40 government departments have written to Biden to protest the US policy stance on the Israeli Palestinian conflict.

With the outbreak of a new round of conflict between Palestine and Israel, Matthew Diess, Executive Deputy Director of the International Policy Center, a US think tank, pointed out that the Biden administration's originally planned vision for the Middle East has been shattered.

This round of Palestinian Israeli conflict will also to some extent affect the United States' aid program to Ukraine. For Ukraine, military assistance and diplomatic support from the United States are crucial in this prolonged war of attrition. However, the ongoing conflict between Palestine and Israel may force the US to make trade-offs between providing aid to Israel and Ukraine.


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