by Aldo Baquis
TEL AVIV
One step forward, two steps back. On the truce in Gaza a week ago, Joe Biden’s speech, based on the positions discreetly forwarded to him by Israel’s war cabinet, had raised hopes, which were soon dampened by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu according to whom that text included “some inaccuracies”. For a few days Hamas, despite expressing a “positive opinion” in general terms, remained silent. Yesterday, a cold shower came from a Hamas spokesperson. “We welcomed Biden’s statements regarding halting Israel’s aggression and withdrawal,” Sami Abu Zuhri said. “However that document does not mention an end to the aggression and withdrawal from Gaza.” Israel – this is the fear of Hamas – proposes “endless” negotiations and once the hostages have been recovered it plans to continue the war. “We have informed the mediators that this is unacceptable” added Abu Zuhri, but was careful not to close the door definitively. So much so that according to Egyptian sources, “Hamas leaders have informed us that they are seriously and positively studying the truce proposal and that they will provide their response in the next few days”.
Beyond these tactical adjustments by Israel and Hamas, it remains clear that Biden is truly convinced that we have now reached a decisive moment in the conflict and is determined not to see it fade away. For this reason, CIA chief Bill Burns has been ordered to remain in Qatar, where he keeps the pressure on the mediators high. He then inspired an appeal from 17 countries (who have their compatriots among the hostages in Gaza) addressed to Israel and Hamas to conclude an agreement as soon as possible. Furthermore, the United States is preparing to submit a motion to the UN Security Council “for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, for the release of all hostages, for an increased volume of humanitarian aid and a lasting truce that will put an end to the crisis”.
The document follows Biden’s intervention for a three-phase agreement to gradually move from the cessation of hostilities on the ground, to a gradual release of hostages (alive and otherwise), to the return of the people of Gaza to their homes and then to the start of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas for “a permanent end to hostilities”. This project, the document notes, “is acceptable to Israel. We appeal to Hamas to accept it too, so that it can be carried out without delay and without conditions”.
However, the motion accepts important requests from Hamas: it excludes “any attempt at demographic or territorial changes in the Strip” and prohibits Israel from establishing buffer zones there.
