2024-03-21 22:20:22
During the past months, in parallel with the fierce battles taking place across the Gaza Strip between the resistance and the occupation, many capitals witnessed other battles between negotiating delegations to draw maps of victory and defeat in the period following the silence of the bullets.
While the Israeli flames paint the colors of death on the starving bodies, the negotiations between Hamas and Israel continue, and not a step forward is taken except that the retreat returns further, and new obstacles arise in front of the horizon that opened from time to time in the dark windows behind which lay dozens of Israeli detainees who fell all at once. In the hands of Al-Qassam and other Palestinian brigades on the morning of October 7th.
There were many mediators, and many stages of talks, discussion and negotiation, and from time to time information appeared on the media platforms regarding the imminence of the agreement, and the pressure of the families of the prisoners in continuous marches, but the ceiling of hope collapses every time, and Israel breaks its flirtation and breaks its pledge to rescue the sheikhs, boys and women who fell into the hands of the Qassams. The tunnels led them to unseen consciences that are not easy to access.
Continuous negotiations and bombing end the lives of prisoners
Many negotiation sessions and discussions have been held so far, some of which were indirect discussions between Hamas and Israel, and some of which were conducted by mediators without the participation of Hamas or Israel. On the morning of February 23, Paris was scheduled for a meeting with the participation of delegations and representatives from Egypt, Qatar, the United States, and Israel. The host country was certainly not absent.
That meeting ended with an agreement on a general framework for establishing a prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel, in addition to a path to stop the deadly flames of fire in the Gaza Strip, even if only temporarily.
The Paris meeting, in late February, was not the first for international and regional mediating parties to negotiate. It was preceded by another meeting in Paris at the end of January of this year, and its participants also developed a framework for negotiation, before the two parties concerned with its outcomes rejected the other’s offer. Hamas presented its response to the proposals of that meeting, but Netanyahu responded to the Hamas offer by saying that it was imaginary and might not be implemented in any way, he said.
As for Hamas, it saw Netanyahu’s positions as an attempt to prolong the war, and stated its conditions that guarantee it will keep the detainees unless Israel stops its crazy war, and does not release thousands of Palestinian prisoners, some of whom have grown old and young behind the deaf cells.
Cairo negotiations
The months of February and March included many talks and negotiations in Cairo, some between mediators, and some with the participation of representatives of Hamas or Israel (indirect negotiations). In its first week, Cairo was scheduled for a lengthy round of negotiations, in which representatives of Hamas participated. It lasted 3 days, and Cairo subsequently received negotiators from the Israeli side to discuss the exchange deal.
On the 13th of the same month, a meeting was also held in Cairo to discuss the truce in the Gaza Strip and the exchange of prisoners, with the participation of CIA Director William Burns, Mossad Chief David Barnea, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, and Egyptian officials.
The American website Axios reported at the time from an Israeli source that the Cairo talks between Israel, the United States, Qatar and Egypt regarding an exchange deal between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) ended without achieving tangible progress, adding that the gap that prevents the transition to more serious negotiations is the number of prisoners who Hamas demands their release for every Israeli detainee, especially for captured soldiers.
In parallel with the Cairo and Doha negotiations, an Arab meeting began in Cairo today, Thursday, in which the Palestinian Authority participates, and it also discusses ways to establish a humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip, saving the remaining lives and the remains of the scorched earth.
Doha negotiations
Doha is also hosting a new meeting following previously hosting many rounds of indirect meetings and negotiations, most notably those held on March 19 between my delegation, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Israel in Doha.
Israel sent to these negotiations a delegation consisting of officials from the Mossad, military intelligence, and the General Security Service, following obtaining authorization from the Israeli War Council to discuss the details of the issues at the negotiating table.
This round came to discuss a new proposal presented by Hamas, and it said that it showed flexibility, and that its proposal included concessions made by the movement in response to the demands of the Qatari and Egyptian mediators, in order to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
Hamas vision
The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) confirms that the basic principles underlying its vision of the negotiation file, which it presented to the mediators in Egypt and Qatar, are based on five main points: a ceasefire, an unconditional return of the displaced, the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation army from Gaza, and the entry of aid and relief materials. And reconstruction.
She stressed that these principles and foundations that she presented are considered necessary for the agreement and the prisoner exchange file, and stressed that they will remain biased towards the rights and concerns of the Palestinian people.
Sources spoke to Al Jazeera regarding the most important provisions of Hamas’ proposal, which according to those sources includes:
– A ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in 3 stages, each lasting 42 days.
Hamas stipulated that the occupation forces withdraw from Al-Rashid and Salah Al-Din Streets to allow the return of the displaced to the northern Gaza Strip and the passage of aid.
In exchange for the release of every living female prisoner, she offered to release 50 Palestinian prisoners whom she would specify, with 30 of them being life sentencers.
At the start of the second phase, Hamas stipulated that a permanent ceasefire be declared before any exchange of its captured soldiers.
– Beginning the comprehensive reconstruction process for the Gaza Strip and ending the siege with the start of the third phase of the deal.
A source told Al Jazeera that the movement, as usual, presented a complete paper within 3 stages leading to what was called “sustainable calm,” in which it provided full details for the first stage, while providing basic headings for the second and third stages.
Israel…negotiations for the sake of negotiations
Despite the long weeks of negotiations that have passed so far, Israel has not yet revealed a clear proposal, and is mostly content with rejecting or making reservations regarding what the mediators offer, or what Hamas proposes, and Netanyahu still insists in his public statements that Gaza must It should be demilitarized and subject to complete security control. It also insists on rejecting any political settlement that leads to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, in line with the vision of its allies on the Israeli extreme right.
Tel Aviv does not hesitate to provide comprehensive bombardment and deadly destruction in the hands of any survivors of the negotiations, thus confirming that the negotiations are impassable, as the essence of the Israeli right’s position is limited to complete certainty that any agreement with Hamas is nothing but an official Israeli declaration of Tel Aviv’s defeat and victory. Sinwar soldiers and Muhammad Al-Deif.
The leaks regarding Israeli concessions in the negotiations that have been ongoing for weeks reveal nothing more than Tel Aviv’s willingness for a temporary truce to release Israeli detainees in the Gaza Strip, in exchange for the release of a limited number of Palestinian prisoners.
Israel also publicly rejects the demands of Hamas and the resistance factions for a complete withdrawal from Gaza.
It is clear – according to what analysts say – that Netanyahu wants a deal and wants a truce in Gaza, but on his own conditions, the most important of which is “that in the first phase of the truce there will be no Israeli or international commitment to a ceasefire, such that Israel will continue its military operations in Gaza, and that no Palestinian prisoners are released.”
Hamas leaders have always stressed that Israel wants to achieve peace and negotiation unless it can obtain it through war and conquest, and that it is difficult for it to get down from the tree because the current political and security officials are fully aware that their fates are linked to the continuation of the war. With the firing of the last bullet in the war, files will be opened at home. Investigations, accountability, and perhaps imprisonment begin.
What is blocking the agreement?
Although the mediators do not usually reveal the merits and procedures of the negotiations, and the points that obstruct reaching an agreement, Hamas leaders constantly confirm that it is Israel that is obstructing reaching an agreement.
Commenting on the results of the last round of negotiations hosted by Doha, Hamas leader Osama Hamdan said that the Israeli occupation’s response to the movement’s proposal regarding ceasefire negotiations and prisoner exchange “was negative and does not respond to the demands of our people,” holding Netanyahu, his government and those who support him responsible for obstructing… Efforts to rescue the swap deal.
Hamdan said that Hamas presented its vision regarding the prisoner exchange file, and showed positivity and high flexibility, noting that the movement is following the course of negotiations through the mediator brothers in Egypt and Qatar.
He revealed that the occupation had withdrawn from the approvals it had previously provided to the mediators, “in an attempt to procrastinate, which may lead the negotiations to a dead end.”
A source in the Hamas movement revealed to Al Jazeera Net the reasons for the faltering negotiations with the Israeli occupation, in order to reach a prisoner exchange deal within a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.
The source attributed the faltering negotiations to three reasons, the first of which lies in the occupation’s refusal to withdraw from the Al-Rashid and Salah al-Din axes, to allow the return of the displaced without conditions and the passage of aid.
As for the second reason – according to the source – the Israeli occupation refused to pledge a comprehensive and complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip within the second phase.
The Israeli negotiating delegation also showed a lack of seriousness regarding the prisoner issue, and tampered with the exchange equation, as Hamas presented a specific equation and refused to delve into the numbers, because it is not sure of the number of civilians remaining alive.
Because there is no logical horizon between two parties, one of which wants to release the largest number of its captive citizens, and the other does not announce what it wants or has not yet determined what it wants, Israel’s traditional cards did not include peace or achieving what would stop bloodshed.
In the tunnels or private bunkers where Hamas and other Palestinian brigades hold Israeli detainees, the dawn of freedom does not seem imminent, but rather the release of progress in the recent negotiations taking place in Doha and Cairo is expected to come.
In Israel’s bags of bullets and exploding flames are what it sees as the most capable of achieving its goal, which becomes more difficult with each new day, so the question continues to come back to more than one party, especially to the families of the prisoners: Does Israel really want to rescue its detainees held by Hamas? The most hesitant answer is yes no… yes no.
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