Biden: All-out war in Mideast possible, but there’s an opportunity for groundbreaking settlement

Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

US President Joe Biden acknowledges that an “all-out war” in the Middle East is possible, while insisting that a ceasefire is still possible in Lebanon.

“An all-out war is possible, but I think there’s also the opportunity that’s still in play to have a settlement that can fundamentally change the whole region,” he says during an appearance on ABC’s “The View” talk show, apparently referring to the administration’s vision that sees Arab allies taking part in the postwar management of Gaza and Saudi Arabia agreeing to normalize relations with Israel if Jerusalem agrees to establish a pathway to a Palestinian state.

This vision appeared to take a further hit in recent weeks as Arab leaders staked out further-reaching positions conditioning their cooperation with Israel on the need for the establishment of a Palestinian state, as opposed to previous foggier comments about the need for a “political horizon” or a “pathway to statehood.” But even those ideas have been rejected by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“One of the things that I found is that the Arab world very much wants to have a settlement [with Israel] because they know what it does for them,” Biden continues. “They’re willing to make alliance with Israel if Israel changes some policies.”

The president then stresses that he’s “a very strong supporter of Israel. I make no bones about it. I said years ago I was a Zionist. What a Zionist means is that there needs to be an Israel.”

He repeats a story that he frequently relies on when explaining his political differences with the current Israeli government. “I’ve known Bibi Netanyahu for a long, long time… Bibi has a picture I signed for him when he was a young member of the embassy here in the United States. It was an eight by 10 picture that he asked me to sign. I wrote, ‘Bibi. I love you, but don’t agree with the damn thing you say or do — Joe’. I do, and that was right.”

“I don’t agree with his position. There needs to be a two-state solution. Ultimately, it needs to happen,” Biden asserts.

“You have a possibility — I don’t want to exaggerate it — but a possibility, if we can deal with a ceasefire in Lebanon, that it can move into dealing with the West Bank. But we also have Gaza to deal with,” Biden says.

It’s unclear whether he is referring to a new framework for a deal involving the West Bank, which has seen an uptick in attacks by Palestinians and Israeli settlers along with deadly IDF counter-terror raids.

In the past, the Biden administration has talked about how the surest way to restore calm between Israel and Hezbollah is to first secure a ceasefire in Gaza. In recent days, however, the US has reportedly begun crafting a new plan to broker a pause in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in order to give additional time for Gaza hostage talks.

“It’s possible, and I’m using every bit of energy I have with my team… to get this done. There’s a desire to see change in the region, and… peace,” Biden says, regarding the vision he laid out.

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