Spotlight on Washington's waning political capital after Gaza hospital blast sinks Biden's Jordan summit

US President Joe Biden's wartime visit to West Asia has been upended by a deadly strike at a Gaza hospital that killed hundreds of Palestinians, in the deadliest civilian casualty event of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war so far. On October 17, when Biden's Air Force One took off from Joint Base Andrews to Tel Aviv, protesters halfway across the world in the Jordanian capital of Amman attempted to breach security barriers placed close to the Israeli embassy. 

As Biden's plane was still inside the US air space, the announcement came from Amman's foreign ministry. 

The Jordanian kingdom cancelled a scheduled four-war summit between Joe Biden, Jordan's King Abdullah II, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and the Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas. 

The summit will be held "when the decision to stop the war and put an end to these massacres has been taken", Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said.

Biden's West Asia visit comes after days of shuttle diplomacy led by State Secretary Antony Blinken, who covered ten stops during the course of five days and extended his wartime visit in the region to six days against the original schedule of just two days.

Also read | Shuttle diplomacy: Blinken meets Jordanian King, Palestinian President Abbas in Amman

Blinken visited Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, with two stops each in Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

"The Jordanian government’s cancellation of President Biden’s trip serves as a glaring indicator of the United States’ waning political capital in the Middle East," Raed Jarrar, Advocacy Director at Washington-based Democracy For The Arab World Now (DAWN) non-profit, told WION.

Raed Jarrar is an Arab-American political advocate based in Washington, DC

"President Biden's statements, which perpetuate a 'blank check' policy towards Israel, are driving a wedge between the US and other nations in the region," added Jarrar.

The term 'blank check' policy in reference to the US policies in West Asia came into vogue after the Trump administration was accused of turning a blind eye towards Saudi Arabia — given its longstanding partnership with the oil-rich kingdom — after the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. 

Jarrar believes that the Biden administration is also pursuing a 'blank check' policy with Israel amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. 

Also watch | Israel-Hamas war: US President Biden's Israel visit with 'strategic importance'

"The time has come for the United States to shift its approach from blank-check support to serving as a broker for peace," Jarrar said.

"President Biden should urgently call for a ceasefire, rather than continue to tacitly support the deeply troubling and devastating Israeli actions in Gaza," he added.

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