Blinken to arrive in Israel today to discuss ceasefire deal
Blinken will meet Netanyahu and the so-called “working group” on Monday.
They’ll be discussing issues concerning the deal, including the list of names of Israeli captives being held in Gaza, the list of names of Palestinian prisoners for whom they will be traded and a schedule for those releases to take place hopefully.
But his largest challenge will undoubtedly be convincing the top levels of the Israeli government, and Netanyahu in particular, to be more flexible about their demands regarding this deal.
Reports in the Israeli press today suggest some discord among Israeli leaders. They’ve said Netanyahu must be flexible to make a deal possible now to secure the release of those Israeli captives, and that is likely to be Blinken’s biggest challenge.
There’s a great deal of negativity from several experts and people here in the region with regard to the success of this idea. They say what the US and Israel are doing is creating a sense of cautious optimism while they are shifting the goalposts and shifting the blame on Hamas for not agreeing to a deal. They say this is insincere and that they’re not certain that a deal will go forward.
Hamas knows Israel comes to talks in bad faith
Hassan Barari, professor of international relations at Qatar University, says Hamas has learned from its past dealings with Israel that they change positions every time a deal is close.
“When a deal is within range, the Israelis would do something different, like committing atrocities or assassinating leaders,” he said.
“They learned from the brief history that Israelis go to negotiations in bad faith and they have intention to undermine the talks.”
Barari said Israel tries to shift the blame to Hamas in these situations. The analyst, however, added that he believes this time a deal is close due to the US administration’s pressure on Israel.
“Netanyahu is facing a tough time now as even his negotiating team is talking about a deal that is possible,” he said.
Israeli minister says military won’t leave Gaza until all captives released: Report
Israeli Army Radio reports that Israel’s energy minister, Eli Cohen, has said Israel will have “security control” over Gaza, adding that its military will have the “ability to come and carry out an operation at any point in time anywhere”.
He also said that Israel should retain control of the Philadelphi Corridor, also known as the Philadelphi Route, a 14km (8.7-mile) long strip of land that represents the entirety of the border area between Gaza and Egypt.
Hamas official says Netanyahu main obstacle to achieving ceasefire
Osama Hamdan has told Al Jazeera that “everyone understands” Netanyahu and his government are not willing to reach a ceasefire deal.
“The Israelis, in the two-day negotiations, rejected the paper, introduced by the Americans on June 24 based on Biden’s initiative, the Security Council resolution, and also responsible for the Israeli points,” the Hamas official said.
Hamdan added that the Israelis declared in the latest round of talks in Qatar that they wanted the right to come back to fight, a condition he said was unacceptable for Palestinians.
