Biden administration 'frustrated' with Gaza ceasefire process as Trump's influence looms

While the Biden administration has said it is now focused on reaching a ceasefire in Gaza after brokering a deal in Lebanon last month, it’s not necessarily intent on ensuring that happens while President Joe Biden is still in office over the next 33 days. 

On Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told Middle East Eye that the Biden administration has been “frustrated” with the negotiation process, so it doesn’t matter which president eventually seals the deal. 

“If you’re able to get a ceasefire to this horrific conflict in Gaza, I’m happy for anyone in the world to take credit for it, as long as we get it done,” Miller said in response to MEE’s question at a Foreign Press Center briefing. 

On Tuesday, Hamas issued its most optimistic statement yet about the likelihood of a truce materialising in the days to come, saying talks in Cairo have been productive, and that if Israel refrains from imposing further conditions, a deal can be secured. 

Miller told Middle East Eye shortly afterward that “the differences between the two parties really have been narrowed,” and “all remaining differences, we believe, ought to be bridgeable”.

While Hamas’ senior leadership has been assassinated, and the Israeli public is running out of patience with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to engage in a prisoner swap to bring the captives in Gaza home, it’s the looming second round of a Trump presidency that seems to have pushed both parties to engage more seriously. 

President-elect Donald Trump has already taken credit for last month’s ceasefire in Lebanon, and has since threatened there will be “hell to pay” in Gaza if the Israeli captives are not released by his 20 January inauguration. 

His aides believe his strongman style and willingness to take more extreme political and military decisions are what are moving the needle in the Middle East. 

Trump’s surrogates within the Arab-American community have also previously echoed those sentiments to MEE. 

US frustration

Miller told MEE that the long Gaza ceasefire process has taken its toll on Palestinians, and that it is past time for an end to the war after 14 months. 

“We have invested so much time and so much energy into trying to get this ceasefire over the line, and have been so close so many times, that it really has been frustrating that we haven’t been able to get there,” he said. “The toll of this war [is on] innocent civilians in Gaza who continue to die, who continue to suffer, to innocent hostages who continue to be held away from their families who, of course, miss them… We believe that we are at the point where we ought to be able to get to an agreement.”

The US remains “engaged actively in this process” in the region, Miller said, adding that “officials back here in Washington are working on this every day.” 

'Being the most powerful country in the world is not the same as being all-powerful'

- US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller

When asked by The Guardian whether Biden overestimated his influence on Netanyahu over the past year, Miller said the US cannot impose decisions on sovereign states.

“There’s one thing I think that constantly gets misunderstood or overestimated. It’s that the United States has a magic wand that it can wave around the world and force other countries to take actions that they don’t want to take,” he said. 

“Being the most powerful country in the world is not the same as being all-powerful.”

The US, he added, has long provided military support to other countries in the Middle East beyond Israel, as well as to allies in Asia and other parts of the world. That support does not mean Washington agrees with their actions, Miller explained.

“We get a lot of questions about Israel taking decisions that we don’t necessarily agree with, and whether that means we’re going to cut off our military support to them. I’m not sure there’s a country in the world [that receives US] military support where we agree with every decision that they take… What we try to do is impress upon countries in every circumstance what we believe is in their interest.”

That statement came as Palestinian families on Tuesday sued the US State Department for its failure to uphold its own laws which govern who receives military assistance if there are human rights violations involved. 

No Syria normalisation anytime soon

On Syria, Miller told MEE that there are currently “no announcements to make” on steps toward normalising relations with Damascus during Biden’s last days in office. 

This is despite the US having made “direct contact” with Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) last week. 

Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the leader of HTS which took over Syria, has a $10m bounty on his head, and his group is designated a terror organisation by Washington. 

“We are going to judge HTS not by the words that they say publicly, but by the actions that they take,” Miller told MEE, citing Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s stated conditions for recognising a Syrian government.

“Those principles included things like an open, inclusive government that was open to religious and ethnic minorities, that was open to all of the various groups across Syria,” he said.

“[Blinken] called for ensuring access to humanitarian assistance [and] making sure that Syria did not pose a threat to its neighbours and was not a base for terrorism.”

The Biden administration, Miller noted, has several tools at its disposal beyond delisting HTS and withdrawing the bounty, which include lifting economic sanctions on Syria. 

“We want to see actions by the interim authorities in Damascus that are consistent with those principles and make clear that they are going to govern in a way that is responsive to the needs of all Syrian society… and we’re going to be watching that very closely,” he said.