Amidst the widening crisis in the Middle East involving Gaza, Iran, Israel, and the region, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman – known for his ties to the Democratic administration in Washington – reported on Thursday that the emerging Biden Doctrine could see a dramatic shift in US policy to the point of recognizing a Palestinian state and the biggest US strategic realignment there since the 1979 Camp David treaty between Egypt and Israel.
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According to Friedman, this could very well include an unprecedented US diplomatic initiative to promote a demilitarized Palestinian state. It would involve some form of US recognition of that entity in the form of official statehood in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that would come into being only once Palestinians had developed defined, credible institutions and security capabilities to ensure viability and non-threat to Israel. Biden administration officials have consulted experts about different forms this recognition of Palestinian statehood might take.
Video: Families of the hostages camp outside the prime minister's home / Yehonatan Shaul
"Biden administration officials have been consulting experts inside and outside the US government about different forms this recognition of Palestinian statehood might take," Friedman writes.
According to Freidman, this signals an awareness within the Biden administration that the US "will never have the global legitimacy, the NATO allies and the Arab and Muslim allies it needs to take on Iran in a more aggressive manner unless we stop letting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold our policy hostage."
Biden knows Netanyahu is just trying to string him along with private whispers open to Palestinian statehood, he writes, referring to an expert's analysis.
"You strategically call Iran's bluff and, at the same time, you embark on an unprecedented initiative to lay the groundwork for a demilitarized Palestinian state, in ways the US has never done before," Biden quotes Nader Mousavizadeh, founder and CEO of the geopolitical consulting firm Macro Advisory Partners. "I think this is exactly right. It is way past time for the US to call both Iran and Netanyahu's bluffs," Friedman concurs. If a Biden Doctrine emerges with robust retaliation against Iran plus concrete moves toward a demilitarized Palestinian state, it could deter Iran militarily and politically, promote Palestinian statehood consistent with Israeli security, and create conditions for Israel-Saudi normalization that Palestinians can get behind, he concludes.
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