Egypt Brokers Ceasefire Between Israel And Hamas, Biden Takes Credit
By Donald Standeford, Correspondent - Follow -
Date Published: 2021-05-21 5:30AM UTC
Last Modified: 2021-05-22 6:58PM UTC
ISRAEL - A ceasefire has finally been brokered between Israel and the Hamas by Egypt. Joe Biden is attempting to take the credit for the agreement, thanking Egyptian officials for their "critical role' in stopping the fighting but overshadowing Egypt's role in the agreement with his own administration's efforts in the ceasefire process.
The ceasefire, which Egyptian mediators set to come into effect on Friday at 2:00 a.m (2300 on Thursday GMT) was agreed by both parties to be both 'mutual and simultaneous'.
Biden stated "Over the last 11 days, I spoke with the prime minister six times. I've also spoken with President Abbas and the Palestinian Authority more the once and part of our intense diplomatic engagement. And I want to also thank secretary of state, the secretary of defense, our national security adviser, and everyone on our team for their incredible efforts to bring this about, this outcome that we're about to see".
Biden added, "You know, we've held intensive, high-level discussions, hour by hour, literally, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority and other Middle Eastern countries, with an aim of avoiding this sort of prolonged conflict we've seen in previous years when the hostilities have broken out."
Biden has promised to help Israel re-stock the missiles for Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system, despite the resolution the House Democrats have submitted, lead by Bernie Sanders to block the $735 million dollar arms sale to Israel initiated by Biden before the conflict between Israel and Hamas began to escalate.
Biden has also promised to help the Palestinian Authority rebuild Gaza after the Israeli strikes destroyed many civilian buildings that were also used by the Hamas terrorist organization to both plan and carry out attacks on Israel.
Biden affirmed Israel's right to launch the attacks in Gaza, stating, "The United States fully supports Israel's right to defend itself against indiscriminate rocket attacks from Hamas", and stated that the Iron Dome defense system was both built with the help of the United States, and has "has saved the lives of countless Israeli citizens, Arab and Jew".
Referring to his talk with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden said, "I assured him of my full support to replenish Israel's Iron Dome system to ensure its defenses and security in the future".
"I send my sincere condolences to all the families, Israeli and Palestinian, who have lost loved ones and my hope for a full recovery for the wounded", he said.
Biden also said, "The United States committed to working with the United Nations, and we remain committed to working with the United Nations and other international stakeholders to provide rapid humanitarian assistance and to marshal international support for the people of Gaza and the Gaza reconstruction efforts".
"We will do this in full partnership with the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, Palestinian Authority, in a manner that does not permit Hamas to simply restock its military arsenal", Biden continued.
The 11 days of fighting between Israel and Hamas left 230 Palestinians and 12 Israelis dead. 63 of the dead in Gaza and 2 of the dead in Israel were children.
Over 4,000 rockets were fired into Israel by the Hamas terrorist organization in those 11 days, which had prompted Israel to batter Gaza with a steady stream of targeted strikes on known Hamas locations including bases of operation and tunnel networks underneath civilian buildings.
