Former US diplomat says Washington has no Palestine policy, follows Israel's lead

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - A former senior State Department official accused the US on Wednesday of lacking a policy on Palestine, adding that its actions are largely based on Israeli preferences.

Mike Casey, who resigned as deputy political counselor on Gaza in July, voiced criticisms in an interview with The Guardian newspaper.

“We don’t have a policy on Palestine. We just do what the Israelis want us to do,” he said.

The army veteran with more than a decade of diplomatic experience served in Jerusalem starting in 2020. His role involved documenting the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and crafting policy proposals related to Gaza.

He said the Biden administration repeatedly dismissed US-led plans in favor of Israeli suggestions, some of which he described as “deliberately destructive.”

"Every idea we came up with, (the Biden administration) would just say, ‘Well, the Israelis have another idea," he said.

"We wrote numerous reports and cables explaining why this wouldn’t work... It’s not in our interest to have warlords running Gaza."

Casey’s frustrations deepened as he reported on the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. He described the psychological toll of documenting civilian casualties, including children, and watching his reports ignored in Washington.

"I got so tired of writing about dead kids," he said. "Just constantly having to prove to Washington that these children actually died and then watching nothing happen."

Casey also expressed disappointment with President Joe Biden’s public questioning of Palestinian casualty figures, some of which Casey had directly documented.

The State Department, in response to Casey’s claims, emphasized its commitment to international humanitarian law and preventing civilian harm.

"We’ve repeatedly said that Israel must not only comply with international humanitarian law but must also take every feasible step to prevent civilian harm – this is a moral and strategic imperative," a State Department spokesperson was quoted.

Casey’s resignation is part of a broader wave of discontent among US officials about the Biden administration’s Israel-Palestine policy, including other high-profile departures in the past year.

Twelve former US government officials who resigned because of Gaza released a statement in July that said the administration's policy is a "failure and a threat to US national security."

"America’s diplomatic cover for, and continuous flow of arms to, Israel has ensured our undeniable complicity in the killings and forced starvation of a besieged Palestinian population in Gaza," it said.