UNRWA school bombed on Wednesday. Photo via X @UNLazzarini
In recent days the United States has circulated a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council, based on the Israeli ceasefire proposal presented last week by Biden. Now an Associated Press background story reveals that Israeli diplomats are objecting, privately, to try to stop the resolution based on the Israeli proposal. (Reread this sentence) Israel is not a member of the Security Council, but the Israeli authorities are said to be against two passages in particular of the resolution: the one in which “any attempt at demographic and territorial change in the Gaza Strip is rejected,” and the one in which refers to “actions that reduce the territory of Gaza,” “through the permanent organization of official or unofficial buffer zones.”
Middle East Eye obtained access to a version of the ceasefire proposal that the Netanyahu VI government put forward in response to the “Israeli” ceasefire proposal presented by Biden. The site published the full text of the proposal, which underlines that Israel intends to accept only a 42-day “temporary cessation of military operations”, which will be followed by negotiations for a permanent ceasefire. This ceasefire, it is underlined, is temporary and can be extended “if negotiations for the second phase of the agreement are underway.” The document is dated May 27, 4 days before the presentation of Biden’s “Israeli” proposal. The Israeli proposal has numerous limitations on the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, and replaces the phrase “lifting the siege” of Gaza with “opening border crossings and facilitating the movement of people and the transfer of goods.”
On Thursday, after speaking with mediators from Qatar and Egypt, Hamas released a statement noting: “The enemy’s position is unclear.” The group explains that the Israeli proposal it received — most likely the one seen by Middle East Eye — “it lacked the positive foundations mentioned in Biden’s statements, and there are differences between what’s in the document and what Biden said.” The group points out: “This has caused confusion and controversy,” it is not clear, in short, “whether what Biden spoke about is his personal interpretation of the document” or whether there were “oral agreements with Israeli parties.”
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