Last week, the current President of the United States introduced the new plan in a surprising news conference. The strategy is related to the end the war in Gaza, calling it an “Israeli peace proposal”. However, his speech was not clear. 

The request for this “Israeli peace proposal” was strangely directed mostly at Israelis. This proposal was not really from Israel. Soon it became clear that it was Biden’s own idea. In order to pressurize the Israeli government, he called it “ Israeli”.

Joe Biden asked for support from both regular Israeli and influential leaders. He stated that, I know most of the Israelis disagree with his plan and want to continue the war indefinitely. And also he knows that some of these people belong to the government. This seemed to point to figures like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who have strong opinions on the issue.

Without affecting their increased security risk, Israelis should know that they can safely make this offer. “Can” is the crucial word here. It simply means that Israelis have an ability. Also they should make this offer, even though they haven’t done so yet.

These lines clearly highlight that Joe Biden was trying to win the support of Israel’s citizens. It especially included  those who prefer negotiating with Hamas to get back hostages instead of continuing the unrealistic goal of completely destroying the group.

Joe Biden also offered to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the opportunity to publicly align with Washington. However, Netanyahu was not interested in taking this offer. 

His public statement highlights that he is not in favor of Biden’s plan.There are 3 stages of Mr. Biden’s proposal. The first stage is related to a ceasefire and mutual release of captives. The second stage is a permanent end to hostilities. While the third stage is related to rebuilding Gaza and establishing a new order there.

Mr. Biden also mentioned that if phase 2 talks were not completed within six weeks, the ceasefire and talks would continue as long as both sides followed phase 1 commitments. This means neither side could restart the conflict just because they didn’t want to proceed to phase 2, which aims for a permanent end to the war.

The Israel President rejected this three-phase plan. He also opposed the American’s aim to stop the war and bring peace. Rather to support the plan he insisted that Israel need to continue the war until unless some political agendas are fulfilled. Furthermore, these political goals are not clearly defined yet.

Joe Biden said clearly, It’s time to stop the war and start planning for what comes next. At the same time Mr Netanyau says that Israel is ready to end the war and wants to continue the fight. He didn’t say when or what the goals are for more fighting. This makes it seem like he wants the war to keep going on and on, like President Biden said.

Hamad leaders quickly understood Biden’s strategy and were ready to accept the proposal if Israel agreed to stop the war. Their goal is clear: to use and worsen the divide between Biden and Netanyahu, and between the US and Israel more broadly, over why the war is continuing. However some leaders in Hamas also want to continue the war and never end until the undefined goals are achieved. 

Netanyahu tried their best to handle the situation to get future support from the United State. He is willing to accept phase 1 which includes a 42-day break in fighting in exchange for the return of many remaining hostages. Also he said Biden had not described the whole picture in his speech. He also said that Israel is not ready to end the war.

However, Biden and his administration will keep pushing the Israel leader to accept the three phase solution. 

Mr Netanyahu seems to have decided that the best way to avoid going to prison, given the serious corruption charges he’s facing in an ongoing trial, is to stay in office. And the best way to do that is to continue the conflict for the foreseeable future. Mr Biden hinted at this in a recent interview with TIME magazine. Mr Netanyahu is not likely to risk losing his government and facing prison just to please Washington.

The disagreement between the US and Israel seems to be getting bigger at every turn. 

This isn’t just a normal rift in the US-Israeli partnership. It looks like it could be the start of the end of the special relationship that’s been strong since the late 1960s. And right now, things are only likely to get worse in the future.