Lhe collapse of American credibility in the Middle East is unprecedented in this ninth month of the Gaza war. Not only is the United States not mobilizing for the two-state solution that it is supposed to be calling for, but it has not even been able to obtain a lasting ceasefire, despite the commitment staff of President Joe Biden and the eight tours in the region led in vain by the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken.
Washington has also been unable to convince Israel to let enough humanitarian aid into Gaza to alleviate the suffering of the local population. And the jetty established by the American army on the Gaza coast is proving a resounding fiasco in terms of assistance to the most vulnerable civilians.
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A pontoon at 300 million euros
Joe Biden, however, chose the solemn occasion of his State of the Union speech on March 7 to launch this initiative: “I have ordered the US military to conduct an emergency mission to construct a temporary pier in the Mediterranean that can receive significant quantities of food, water, medicine and temporary shelter. » While promising that“no American soldier will be engaged on the ground”the president undertakes to ensure a “massive increase in humanitarian aid delivered to Gaza every day”. Specialists on the file, including within the Biden administration, immediately raise serious doubts about the viability of the project. As for humanitarian organizations, they point out that only the unblocking by Israel of land access to Gaza can stop the spread of hunger and epidemics in a population literally gasping for air.
The White House, prisoner of a narrow vision anti-terrorist » of the conflict in Gaza, is nevertheless convinced of having found the ideal formula for circumventing the dictates of the Israeli army, which will thus preserve its total freedom of maneuver in its fight against Hamas, while the aid will be transported by sea from Cyprus. The exorbitant cost of this “temporary pier”of the order of 300 million euros, is also a continuation of the operations “anti-terrorists” of the United States in Afghanistan and Iraq, whose components “civilians” were accompanied by lucrative contracts for American companies, without any benefit for local populations. The process of installing this pier turned out to be so cumbersome and complex that it took more than two months after the presidential announcement for it to finally be operational on May 17. Such delays are simply unjustifiable in the face of the urgency of the humanitarian catastrophe, which is only aggravated by the offensive on Rafah, launched on May 6 by Israel, despite the “red line” drawn on this subject by Joe Biden.
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