Biden: forget ceasefire – focus on Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine

President Biden has misleadingly claimed that Israel has offered a roadmap leading to an enduring ceasefire in Gaza:

One that brings all the hostages home, ensures Israel's security, creates a better "day after" in Gaza without Hamas in power, and sets the stage for a political settlement that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

Now, after intensive diplomacy carried out by my team and my many conversations with leaders of Israel, Qatar, and Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries, Israel has now offered - Israel has offered a comprehensive new proposal.

It's a roadmap to an enduring ceasefire and the release of all hostages.

Biden's assertion that this latest ceasefire proposal has emanated from Israel – has not been confirmed by Israel – as the Times of Israel reports:

Netanyahu's office issued a statement immediately after Biden's speech, but it avoided responding directly to the president's message.

Instead, it said that the latest Israeli proposal fulfills both of Israel's war aims of returning all remaining 125 hostages and eliminating Hamas's military and governmental capabilities. It did not specify that the proposal it was referencing was the one Biden detailed.

For its part, Hamas issued a statement welcoming Biden's speech and said it would negotiate in good faith to secure a permanent ceasefire and the permanent withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

A senior US official speaking on condition of anonymity told The Times of Israel that "both Israel and Hamas will try and frame the proposal in a manner that suits them, so it's best to listen to the way it was laid out by the president.

Listening to the proposal the way Biden lays it out will require the following to occur:

• Hamas accepting an end to its 16-years rule in Gaza.
• Gaza's murderers, rapists and hostage-takers agreeing to permanently cease attempting to repeat these horrendous atrocities committed during their 7 October invasion of Israel.
• Hamas trashing its 2017 Charter – which declares: "Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea."
  Does Biden think the international demonstrations and illegal occupations of university campuses worldwide supporting Hamas by shouting this Jew-hating mantra calling for the genocide of 7.2 million Jews living in Israel and Judea and Samaria (West Bank) - and threatening the safety of Jewish communities living worldwide - will end and disappear?
• Hamas abandoning its following claim: "The following are considered null and void: the Balfour Declaration, the British Mandate Document, the UN Palestine Partition Resolution, and whatever resolutions and measures that derive from them or are similar to them."

The Israel-Gaza war has gone far beyond a conflict that can be resolved by any ceasefire agreement – since it would now require:

• the unconditional surrender of Gaza's Hamas Government and the shredding of its 2017 Charter
• the total destruction of Gaza's extensive network of tunnels and its disarmament
• the unconditional release of all the hostages
• the United Nations facilitating the removal of Gaza's children, women, the sick and the elderly to the 50 UNRWA-administered refugee camps located outside Gaza - to minimise further civilian loss of life and casualties and prevent them being used as human shields in breach of international humanitarian law

Biden and the United Nations should be using their combined influence and resources to implement the only solution offering any hope of ending more than 100 years of unresolved conflict between Arabs and Jews: Rescinding UN Security Council Resolution 2334 which violates article 80 of the UN Charter and replacing that solution with the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution (HKOPS).

This remains the only roadmap that has any chance of success.