TThe Biden administration has kept President Donald Trump’s incoming administration in high regard for its efforts to establish a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, according to the outgoing Democratic administration.
Trump’s team, on the other hand, was quick to raise the ball and claim credit for the rare spot of good news in a Democratic administration dragged down by the Mideast conflict.
“Everyone is coming to the table because of President Trump,” Florida Representative Mike Waltz, Trump’s choice for his national security adviser, in a post on X Tuesday, shortly before the Israeli Cabinet signed the agreement. “His stunning victory sent a clear message to the world that anarchy will not be tolerated. I am glad to see strong steps towards de-escalation in the Middle East.”
The communication reported by the Biden administration and the Trump team in their efforts to end the conflict in Lebanon is perhaps the highest example of cooperation in what have been difficult times.
Trump’s transition team on Tuesday reached a necessary agreement with President Joe Biden’s White House that will allow transition staff to contact existing agency staff before Trump takes office on Jan. 20. There has been some communication at the highest levels between the outgoing and incoming Biden. Trump groups, including conversations between Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Waltz.
Biden in the Rose Garden said on Tuesday that he welcomed the cease-fire agreement as a critical step that he hopes can be a catalyst for broader peace in the Mideast, which has been rocked by almost 14 months of war following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
“This is designed to end the animosity once and for all,” Biden said. “The remnants of Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations will not be allowed – I stress, will not be allowed – to threaten Israel’s security again.”
White House officials are now hoping that the peace in Lebanon will revive the international effort to find an end to the devastating war in Gaza, where Hamas still holds dozens of hostages and the conflict cannot be stopped.
Biden said the US, along with Israel, will hold talks in the coming days with officials from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey to try to get the Gaza talks back on track.
But at a time when Biden’s success in a controversy that has damaged his reputation at home and abroad, the suspicions of the Trump administration loom large.
Trump’s national security team was briefed by the Biden administration as the talks continued and finally came to an end on Tuesday, according to a senior Biden administration official. The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity in a call arranged by the White House, added that Trump administration officials were not directly involved in the discussions, but it is important that they know “what we were discussing and what. the bonds were there.”
Trump’s team and allies, they say there is no doubt that the hope that the Republican president will return to power pushed both sides to make a deal.
Waltz, in addition to giving Trump credit for agreeing to a ceasefire, added a warning to Iran, Hezbollah’s main financial backer.
“But let’s be clear: The Iranian regime is the cause of the chaos and fear that has been created throughout the region. We will not tolerate the current state of their support for terrorism,” said Waltz in his post.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, also addressed the incoming administration, while giving a nod to Biden’s team.
“I appreciate the hard work being done by the Biden Administration, with the support of President Trump, to make this end of the conflict a reality,” Graham said in a statement.
Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Washington group Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, said this time suggests that Iran—which he said would have to agree to Hezbollah agreeing to a cease-fire—is carefully considering what will happen next with Trump.
“There is no question that Iran is going back to regroup before Trump takes office,” said Goldberg, the top National Security Council official in the first Trump administration. “It’s a combination of Israel’s military success and Trump’s election – the ayatollah has no clothes and he knows we know.”
The Biden White House is also clinging to the hope that a deal to stop Lebanon could help revive the long-sought Israeli-Saudi deal.
The official said “a lot of work has been done” to get such an agreement on track “but clearly where we are in Gaza is holding us back.”
Biden said his administration was very close to reaching an agreement between the two most important countries in the Middle East just before the attacks by Hamas sent tremors through the region. He pointed out that the emerging deal was part of the motivation for Hamas to attack Israel when it did so.
A few weeks before the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat next to Biden on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly and marveled at how “a historic peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia” seemed within reach – a political development that the Israeli leader had predicted could lead. to lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
The so-called normalization push, which began during the first Trump administration and was called the Abraham Accords, is a major effort to reshape the region and increase Israel’s standing.
The Biden White House plans to keep the incoming Trump administration focused on their efforts and “whatever we’re going to do this time … we’re not going to do it without them knowing what we’re doing,” a Biden administration official said.
– Aamer Madhani reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Fatima Hussein in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Zeke Miller and Chris Megerian contributed reporting.
Source link
