US President Joe Biden’s efforts to ease tensions in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas have faced major obstacles even before his departure for the Middle East on Tuesday. Jordan called off the President’s planned meeting with Arab leaders following a deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people.
As a result, President Biden will now only visit Israel and postpone his trip to Jordan, according to a White House official.
The cancellation of the Amman summit happened after Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas withdrew from the scheduled meetings in protest of the explosion at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital. The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza attributed the incident to an Israeli airstrike, although the Israeli military denied any involvement, stating that a misfired rocket from Gaza caused the explosion.
Videos have emerged showing a rocket launched from Gaza falling short and exploding inside Palestinian territory on Tuesday.
“This war and this aggression are pushing the region to the brink,” stated Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister, on al-Mamlaka TV, a state-run network. He mentioned that Jordan would host the summit only when all participants agreed on its purpose: to “stop the war, respect the humanity of the Palestinians, and provide them with the aid they deserve.”
The cancellation of the summit underscores the increasingly unstable situation in the region and will be a significant test of American influence as President Biden prepares for his visit on Wednesday.
President Biden’s decision to enter a conflict zone this year, just like his surprise visit to Ukraine, shows his readiness to take personal and political risks. He is deeply involved in another challenging foreign conflict with no clear resolution in sight, with ample potential for the situation to worsen.
This high-stakes trip reflects Biden’s belief that the United States must maintain its central role on the global stage and that personal diplomacy can play a pivotal role in achieving this.
This is how Joe Biden believes politics works and history is made,” said Jon Alterman, a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who previously worked on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with Biden.
Since the brutal onslaught by Hamas on October 7, there has been a shortage of water, fuel, and food delivery to Gaza.
As the humanitarian crisis escalates, there is growing concern that the conflict could expand beyond the borders of Gaza. There have been skirmishes on Israel’s northern border with Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terrorist group based in southern Lebanon.
“There’s a lot that can go wrong on this trip,” Alterman noted.
President Biden’s travels will be fraught with security concerns, as Palestinian rocket launches into Israel have disrupted visits by other US officials. Additional Israeli airstrikes in Gaza could lead to further condemnation at a time when Biden aims to demonstrate solidarity with the United States’ closest ally in the region.
Over the past week, the US has subtly shifted its message, expressing full-throated support for Israel while also increasing diplomatic pressure for humanitarian assistance in Gaza. The administration has received dire predictions about the potential for images of suffering Palestinians to spark protests and unrest throughout the Middle East.
US officials have recognized that if conditions in Gaza worsen, the already limited tolerance in the Arab world for Israel’s military actions could completely disappear. Such a scenario could boost Hamas and encourage Iran to escalate its anti-Israel activities, potentially leading to a regional conflict.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spent time shuttling between Arab and Israeli leadership ahead of Biden’s visit. He managed to secure an agreement to create a plan for providing aid to Gaza and distributing it to civilians. Although it may seem modest, it marks a significant change in Israel’s initial position of keeping Gaza cut off from essential supplies.
Biden has a history of publicly supporting Israel while privately expressing concerns.
In the US, Biden has received rare praise from Republicans for his leadership on Israel, but the prospects for additional aid are uncertain. The administration intends to request more than $2 billion in aid for both Israel and Ukraine, although there is uncertainty in the House of Representatives.
Nonetheless, Biden remains committed to supporting both Ukraine and Israel.
During his visit to Israel, President Biden is expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials. Plans to meet with leaders in Jordan, including King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, have been canceled.
A White House official stated that the decision to cancel the Amman summit was made after consulting with Jordan’s King Abdullah and taking into account the days of mourning announced by Abbas following the hospital explosion. Biden conveyed his condolences for the lives lost in the Gaza hospital explosion and wished a speedy recovery to the wounded.
The leaders involved must work to prevent a prolonged and widespread regional escalation, particularly as Egypt and Jordan face growing economic challenges. In September, the International Monetary Fund reported that Egypt and Jordan were among the countries in the region on the brink of a debt crisis. Egypt, in particular, is grappling with high inflation.
Neither of these nations wants to absorb more refugees, and Jordan already has a substantial Palestinian population, along with refugees from neighboring countries.
As tens of thousands of troops are stationed along the Israel-Gaza border, Israel has been expected to launch a ground invasion, but the plans remain uncertain. US officials have not disclosed whether Israel is delaying such an operation for Biden’s visit.
“We are preparing for the next stages of war,” said Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht. “We haven’t said what they will be. Everybody’s talking about a ground offensive. It might be something different.”
