Trump and Biden both claim credit for Gaza ceasefire deal

President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump are both claiming credit for Israel and Hamas agreeing to a ceasefire deal in Gaza after the White House brought Mr Trump’s Middle East envoy into negotiations that have dragged on for months.
Mr Trump wasted no time in asserting he was the moving force behind the deal, whose final details were still being ironed out, according to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
“This epic ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our historic victory in November, as it signalled to the entire World that my administration would seek peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our allies,” Mr Trump wrote on social media.
“I am thrilled American and Israeli hostages will be returning home to be reunited with their families and loved ones.”
Mr Trump added that his incoming Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, would continue “to work closely with Israel and our Allies to make sure Gaza never again becomes a terrorist safe haven”.
‘Pressure’
Mr Biden stressed in a statement that a deal was reached under “the precise contours” of a plan that he set out in late in May.
“It is the result not only of the extreme pressure that Hamas has been under and the changed regional equation after a ceasefire in Lebanon and weakening of Iran — but also of dogged and painstaking American diplomacy,” Mr Biden said.
“My diplomacy never ceased in their efforts to get this done.”
Later in remarks at the White House, Mr Biden said his administration negotiated the deal but that Mr Trump’s team will soon be charged with making sure it is implemented, a nod to Mr Witkoff being a partner in the talks.
“For the past few days, we have been speaking as one team,” Mr Biden said.
Nancy Okail, head of the US-based Centre for International Policy, said acceptance of the deal in the face of Mr Trump’s insistence that a ceasefire be in place when he takes office next week “ironically shows how effective actual pressure can be in changing Israeli government behaviour”.
Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council, said Mr Biden deserves praise for continuing to push the talks despite repeated failures.
Threats
But Mr Trump’s threats to Hamas and his efforts through Mr Witkoff to “cajole” Mr Netanyahu deserve credit as well, he said.
“The ironic reality is that at a time of heightened partisanship even over foreign policy, the deal represents how much more powerful and influential US foreign policy can be when it’s bipartisan,” he said.
“Both the outgoing and incoming administration deserve credit for for this deal and it would’ve been far less likely to happen without both pushing for it.”
The Biden administration’s open embrace of incoming Trump team involvement in the talks was rooted in far more than the president-elect’s influence with Mr Netanyahu and his threats that there would be “hell to pay” if a deal was not done by Inauguration Day, which is in five days, three current US officials said.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to offer candid details, said their interest in having Mr Witkoff participate in the talks alongside Mr Biden’s Middle East pointman, Brett McGurk, was primarily designed to ensure that an agreement — which will require a lengthy American commitment — would have continued US support after Mr Biden leaves office.
Yet, since Mr Witkoff entered the latest round of talks in Doha, Qatar, alongside Mr McGurk, these US officials have downplayed Mr Trump’s relevance to the process apart from the importance of ensuring his support for a deal painstakingly negotiated over the past year.
Reconstruction
They also want backing for a plan pushed by the Biden administration for the governance, reconstruction and security of Gaza that will take many months — and significant US backing — to succeed.
The officials said it was important for all parties to the deal to know that the agreement had buy-in from the new president. That was important not only because Mr Biden will leave office in just five days, but also because the US is a guarantor of the agreement that will play out in several phases.
One fear about not including Trump officials in the negotiations was that the post-conflict plan for Gaza that has been worked over the past year might be abandoned by the new administration.
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Trump the person who ridicules the judiciary except when it works for his benefit!!
I think that – in common with past authoritarian rulers – he sees that as its prime function.