Jerusalem (AP) – The Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio, began a tour of the Middle East in Israel, after the rejection of the Arab leaders to the proposal of President Donald Trump to transfer the Palestinian population of the Strip From Gaza to other countries and developed the territory under the property of the United States.
On Rubio’s first visit to the region as the main diplomat of the United States, he is likely to find a warm welcome from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has praised the plan, and resistance by the Arab leaders, who have unanimously rejected and try to present a counterpropued.
Meanwhile, the fragile high the fire between Israel and Hamas remains intact after an important dispute threatened to undo it the last week. But the parties face a deadline that is quickly approaching in early March to negotiate the following phase, and the war could be resumed if they do not reach an agreement.
The Israeli army said he carried out an air attack on Sunday morning against people who approached their forces in southern Gaza. The Gazatí Ministry of the Interior, controlled by Hamas, said the attack killed three of its police when they lent security for the entry of help trucks near Rafah, on the border with Egypt.
Netanyahu has indicated his willingness to resume war after the current stage, even if that left dozens of hostages in captivity. At the same time, he has offered Hamas the opportunity to surrender and send his main leaders to exile. Hamas has rejected that possibility.
The Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported that Netanyahu has not approved the entry of rolling houses and heavy machinery into the Gaza Strip, as required by the high fire agreement. Hamas had threatened to delay the release of hostages last week due to this matter, which generated fears that the high fire could fall apart, before proceeding with the release based on what he said were guarantees of Arab mediators. An Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity according to the regulations, said that the matter will be discussed in the next few days and that Israel is coordinating with the United States.
For its part, the Israeli Ministry of Defense said on Sunday that it had received a cargo of MK-84 ammunition of 900 kilos (2,000 pounds) from the United States. The Biden government had paralyzed the delivery of these bombs last year for concerns about civil victims in Gaza.
“If someone has a better plan … that would be
genial”
In a radio interview last week, Rubio indicated that Trump’s proposal was aim In Gaza.
It also seemed to suggest that the Arab countries send troops to fight Hamas, which survived the devastating 15 -month attack of Israel and still has a firm control of the territory.
“If someone has a better plan, and we hope they have it, if the Arab countries have a better plan, then that would be great,” Rubio said Thursday at the “Clay and Buck Show.”
But “Hamas has weapons,” he added. “Someone has to deal with those guys. They will not be American soldiers. And if the countries in the region cannot solve that part, then Israel will have to do it and we will return to where we have been. ”
It was not clear if Rubio would meet with a Palestinian.
The Arabs have limited options after Israel’s rejection of previous plans
For Arab leaders, facilitating the massive expulsion of Palestinians or fighting the Palestinian militia in the name of Israel are nightmare scenarios. Either of the two would expose them to a fierce internal criticism and could destabilize an already volatile region.
Egypt has said that it will host an Arab Summit on February 27 and is working with other countries in a counterpart that would allow Gaza to be rebuilt without evicting its population, something that, according to human rights groups, would probably violate international law.
Egypt has noticed that any massive influx of Palestinians from Gaza would undermine its peace treaty with Israel, signed almost half a century ago and that it is a cornerstone of US influence in the region.
The Arab and Muslim countries have so far conditioned any support for the postwar period of Gaza on a return to the Palestinian government with a path to the creation of a state in Gaza, the West Bank and Eastern Jerusalem, territories that Israel occupied in the War of the six days of 1967.
The Biden government spent months mobilizing the regional powers around those plans, but faded as Israel ruled out not only a Palestinian state, but also any role in Gaza for the Palestinian authority backed by the West, whose forces were expelled when Hamas took power there in 2007.
Last year, Egypt proposed that an independent technocrats committee under the auspices of the Palestinian authority be responsible for governing and rebuilding Gaza. Hamas accepted the proposal, but his secular rival, Fatá, who dominates the Palestinian authority, refused to adopt it and the plan did not advance.
Rubio will meet with influential regional leaders
Rubio will meet with Netanyahu on Sunday before traveling to United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, regional heavyweights that have rejected any massive displacement of Palestinians and would be key to any regional response.
United Arab Emirates were the driving force behind Abraham’s agreements of 2020, in which four Arab states normalized relations with Israel during Trump’s previous mandate. Trump hopes to expand the agreements to include Saudi Arabia, offering the possibility of closest links in defense with the United States, but the kingdom has said that it will not normalize relations with Israel if a route is not enabled towards a Palestinian state.
Rubio will not visit Egypt or Jordan, close allies of the United States in peace with Israel who have refused to accept any influx of Palestinian refugees. Trump has sometimes suggested that he could cut US aid to the two countries, which could be devastating for their economies, if they do not meet.
Qatar will also be skipped, which together with Egypt has served as a key mediator with Hamas in the negotiation of Alto El Fuego.
Trump attributed the merit of Alto El Fuego, which was reached in the last days of the Biden government after his envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, joined the conversations. But more recently, Trump has suggested that Israel resume the war unless the dozens of hostages who are still kidnapped from the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, which triggered the fighting, are released before planned.
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Melzer reported from Nahariya, Israel
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This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.
This article was published by MATTHEW LEE on 2025-02-16 02:18:00
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