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‘Peace is still very far away,’ former Israeli official says
Alon Liel, a former director of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, says he’s not confident of a lasting ceasefire in Gaza.
“I don’t think the Israeli government thinks in terms of a lasting peace agreement. I think we might see a ceasefire and exchange of hostages to prisoners. I’m not sure at all about an end to the war,” Liel told Al Jazeera from Tel Aviv.
“Peace is still very far away.”
He said on the eve of the two-year anniversary of the October 7 attacks, the Israeli public is extremely eager to get the captives held by Hamas returned from Gaza and Netanyahu recognises it.
“And I think the Palestinians would very much like to see their prisoners back, and I think this deal can be agreed – even if it will take a week or two. Then we go to issues of the depth of the [troop] withdrawal and the involvement or disappearance of Hamas. These are very complicated issues,” Liel said.
“This will be done under fire because we have so many soldiers there you cannot prevent clashes and hostilities.”
‘If Netanyahu wants to keep his troops inside Gaza that’s a recipe for disaster’
Mustafa Barghouti, secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative, says he optimistic about the indirect ceasefire talks now under way in Cairo but also “cautious”.
“Netanyahu has destroyed previous agreements before, even when these agreements were concluded with the American side, and so he’s capable of destroying it again,” Barghouti told Al Jazeera from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
Barghouti said it’s unclear what the far-right Israeli government will do once it gets the captives back from Hamas, and may choose to continue “its genocidal war on Gaza”.
“It’s easy to exchange prisoners and it can happen – 48 Israeli captives versus more than 1,500 Palestinian captives out of the 14,000 in Israeli jails now. But the main problem is the issue of withdrawal. If Netanyahu wants to keep his troops inside Gaza that’s a recipe for disaster.”
