Egyptian and Qatari-mediated ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas are expected to fail as the two sides are at an impasse.
The main obstacle is Hamas’s demand for a deal to lead to a permanent ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence that any truce would only be temporary.
There were signs over the past week that progress was being made in the talks, but an Israeli official told The New York Times that Netanyahu’s repeated threats to invade Rafah “with or without” a deal hardened Hamas’s demands to ensure Israeli forces wouldn’t enter the city.
According to media reports, the deal that was on the table would have involved Hamas releasing 33 Israeli hostages in the initial phase in exchange for a 40-day ceasefire and commitments to work toward a longer truce. Hamas still insisted on a permanent ceasefire, and Netanyahu’s threats made it clear that wasn’t going to happen.
Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political chief, accused Netanyahu of “sabotaging” the negotiations and said the Israeli leader was trying to “invent constant justifications for the continuation of aggression, expanding the circle of conflict.”
Yossi Verter, an Israeli journalist who writes for Haaretz, said in an analysis piece that Netanyahu likely thought Hamas would reject Israel’s latest proposal, and when the group didn’t, he turned to sabotage.
“Netanyahu is fleeing from a hostage deal. The closer it gets, the faster he runs to avoid it. At least twice in recent months he has sabotaged the sensitive moves toward a deal, whether through public statements or covert messages, or by curbing the mandate of the negotiating team. It was no different this time,” Verter wrote.
In comments on Sunday, Netanyahu reaffirmed his goal of “eradicating” Hamas, which US officials do not think is realistic. “Ending the war, and leaving Hamas intact — the State of Israel cannot accept that,” he said. “We are not prepared to accept a situation in which the Hamas brigades come out of their bunkers, take control of Gaza again, rebuild their military infrastructure, and return to threatening the citizens of Israel.”
Netanyahu sabotaging the talks is entirely predictable. Netanyahu never wanted a hostage deal, and he will do what ever he can do to forestall anything resembling peace.
The issue is Sinwar as much as Netty, if not more. Netty can be replaced at the poles,Sinnwar cannot.
He won’t be happy until Gaza is rocks and dirt with no humans the better to rebuild with beach front property and scads of Oil and Gas to either use or sell. It is hard to imagine a more evil person has ever walked the Earth..
Sorry, so what the F have y’all been doing these past six months, just killing civilians and blowing up hospitals and homes and schools? I mean, Hamas still has brigades, bunkers, and an infrastructure???
He knows full well that Oslo gave the Palestinians in Gaza some form of self rule, but within the borders of Gaza. Israel controls the borders. Still an occupation. Under international law, the occupying nation has to allow aid in. Under international law, the 700,000 settlers in the West Bank are there illegally. And they are vicious, and have been for many years. There have been righteous Jews who have gone to Palestinians villages to protect them. They are blessed. Israel/AIPAC, has media locked down. Killing over 100 journalists in Gaza, supporting the ban on Tik Tok.
The horror is that Israel is just getting started.
Give up all it has to bargain with, then be hit anyway with everything? A promise of nothing? Well of course there is no deal, and it is not the fault of Hamas.
But then, the genocidal lunatics are getting away with everything else, so why not this too? Our mainstream media and political non-leaders will take anything from them.
No one can stop this genocide except the American people. We need to make our government listen to the will of the American voters and taxpayers who want an end to our Washington leaders’ shameless cowering to the Israel lobby. I urge everyone to visit the Gaza solidarity encampment at the college nearest to you to ask the students what we can do to help. I appreciate the wise comments on this site. But the dying children of Gaza need more than our clever words. The American student intifada is leading the way to ending this war. Only we can make our leaders stop this genocide. Let’s do it!
I appreciate your sentiments and this generation of college activism is fueled by altruism, not the draft self interest that was an early part of Vietnam, the multicultural commitment may well have the sustainability required for the long haul of systemic change – it’s already expanded to West Asia and Europe – it gives me hope 🙂
But you’ll want to do some recon before making a trip: Has the encampment been shut down? Is campus entry limited to a student id? Is there a student group that organized the protest – a website w/info on providing help, a contact? A college chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and/or Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) ? – they’ll have info.
Were you in Atlanta and Emory not shut down I’d send food w/ya 🙂
Unfortunately, most of the American people, propagandized by decades of “our greatest ally” BS and shielded from Israel’s real actions by a controlled media and politicians, are completely confused and ineffectual and will therefore allow any tragedy to proceed and lament afterwards, as usual.
Younger people, not marinated as long in propaganda, and not watchers/listeners to tv, radio, newspapers, magazines, and other controlled media, are more active; but their deference to authority learned through years of teacher/masters get in the way of their common sense.
Israel has been called a liability for us. A strategic liability.
how?
Start a war,and your own people suffer
Aaron Maté @aaronimate
6h
The Biden admin has pulled off another genocidal scam. For weeks, they’ve claimed to oppose a Rafah invasion — Biden for a minute called it a “red line” – but done nothing to stop it and everything to fuel it by continuing to supply US weapons and diplomatic cover.
12A i24NEWS English ® @i24NEWS_EN
7h
Replying to @i24NEWS_EN
The official says the U.S. was notified overnight about the decision to begin the civilian evacuation in Rafah
Dr. Mustafa Elmasri @Gaza_Psych
News from east Rafah: Most people will not evacuate.
Patients, friends and colleagues are calling me for advice. I am confused, don’t know what to say, praying to God for guidance
Dr. Mustafa Elmasri @Gaza_Psych
The evacuation area includes the Rafa and Karm Abu
Salem crossings, so no humanitarian aid is allowed through for an undefined time.
Starvation war continues
Dr. Mustafa Elmasri @Gaza_Psych
Rafa population is ordered to evacuate from east Rafah in preparation for ground invasion
The carnage will be immense…
The offer to Hamas is touted as being “very generous”, when it is well known that there will be no permanent ceasefire after any exchange of hostages. Also, it is quite true that Israel will intercept more humanitarian aid, hence the stationing of IDF troops where the aid will travel through in Rafah. Perhaps this may illuminate things: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/we-tried-to-bring-food-into-gaza-but-israel-blocked-and-arrested-us/ar-BB1lTWNs?ocid=msedgntp&pc=DCTS&cvid=8991f1098e95461ceba898c9c82a0b0c&ei=83 Perhaps the recent rocket fire by Hamas, hitting an area adjacent to the Rafah crossing was a signal for Israel to keep the IDF away from the aid, and as a reminder that they are still around. Some IDF troops were injured in the attack. Netanyahu has no intention of stopping the onslaught in Gaza, to drive (“emigrate”) Palestinians in to the great neverland. The only way to be sure all of the aid gets in is to keep the IDF the h*ll away. Stop the “inspections”. The other day there was a video posted showing Israeli settlers attacking trucks carrying aid, assaulting the drivers, then throwing the aid off the trucks into the ground.
If this is not the largest,worst crime against humanity it is pretty fucking close.
In case you wondered what it felt like to be helpless in the face of the extermination of the Warsaw Ghetto (as the USG and USSR did nothing), you’re living it now.
While the US and USSR did not give a shit,what could they have really done?
The U.S. refused to bomb the trains going to Auschwitz, and of course refused to accept Jewish refugees. The Red Army war a few miles outside of Warsaw and waited for the ghetto to fall before taking the city.
Its becoming more then clear that there are a lot of insane political leaders in charge of many different countries. Where do they all come from? The Beatles.
The plan is ethnic cleansing. And the big scheme is to act as if taking in refugees far and wide is a humanitarian plan, but the diaspora is intended to separate the people from each other, and their political power, so that they never can unite for return.
It’s infuriating but also deeply depressing that humans have not evolved from barbarism. The ones who call themselves “civilized”, especially.
The US won’t stop this. We seem to have given over to an Israeli empire. Things will get worse. For all of us.
Roger that.