Calls For Cease Fire In Mideast Conflict Intensify.

May 17, 2021 Glen Turpening

As the fighting rages on in the laster Arab-Israeli conflict, calls for both sides to stop are growing louder. (AP News)

President Joe Biden gave no signs of pressuring Israel to agree to an immediate cease-fire despite new calls from some Democrats for the Biden administration to get more involved. His ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told an emergency high-level meeting of the Security Council that the United States was “working tirelessly through diplomatic channels” to stop the fighting. But as fighting in Israel and Gaza surged to its worst levels since 2014 and the international outcry grew, the Biden administration — determined to wrench U.S. foreign policy focus away from the Middle East and Afghanistan — showed no immediate sign of deepening its involvement. Diplomatic appeals by other countries for Hamas and Israel to stop their fire showed no sign of progress.

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and EDITH LEDERER, writing for 'AP News'

In the cauldron of Middle East relations, the Israeli-Arab conflict is the most difficult and intractable. Sadly, countless lives have been lost and continue to be lost due to this ongoing conflict that shows little to no sign of abating. As calls for peace intensify, let us all hope that both sides heed those cries for calm and the bloodshed stops.