Israeli-Palestinian conflict forces Biden to put Mideast on agenda
Egyptian and Palestinian Authority leaders are back at center stage of US regional diplomacy.
Israel-Palestine a US priority again
US President Joe Biden’s May 20 announcement of a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas appears the start of a deeper US engagement in the Middle East.
Washington was pulled back in by a conflict that it did not anticipate, amid other foreign-policy and domestic priorities.
But it was unavoidable. Hamas and the Islamic Jihad fired more than 4,300 rockets from Gaza into Israel, killing 12 people, including two children. In Gaza, 243 people were killed, including 66 children, health officials in Gaza said; as many as 72,000 were displaced. In addition, the Israeli strikes caused severe damage to Gaza’s already inadequate health, education and public works infrastructure.
