After intentionally reneging on obligations clearly stated in the deal, delaying the gradual withdrawal of its troops from Gaza and blocking necessary humanitarian aid and even electricity, the extremist government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to send a delegation to Doha to resume indirect negotiations with Hamas.
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff, who played a decisive role in concluding the initial agreement, and has since repeatedly delayed an expected visit to the region due to the Israeli government’s lack of any serious intention to negotiate, was also expected to join the Doha talks. The current round of negotiations, which started on Monday followed the unprecedented development of direct talks between the US administration and Hamas in Qatar.
Regardless of whether those talks had the prior approval of and coordination with Israel, those first-time meetings between a senior US official and Hamas leaders definitely add to the pressure on Netanyahu to give up playing games and to commence serious negotiations aimed not just at the return of Israeli hostages held by Hamas but at a permanent end to the aimless, failed genocidal war he has waged against Palestinians in Gaza for nearly 16 months.
According to US media reports, and statements made by Trump’s hostages envoy, Adam Boehler, who chaired the direct talks held with Hamas, priority was given to the release of five dual US-Israeli prisoners held by the group in Gaza, including one who remains alive and four bodies. The families of the Israeli prisoners held by Hamas immediately lashed out at Netanyahu, noting his indifference to the fate of their loved ones compared to the US president’s eagerness to retrieve his own. They said their relatives did not have to be American citizens to be released, and have been making direct appeals to the US president to negotiate a deal instead of the Israeli premier, who never considered the lives of Israeli citizens held by Hamas a priority.
The ceasefire agreement negotiated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States over months and sealed ahead of Trump’s return to the White House on 20 January, states that the two parties would negotiate the details of the second stage of the agreement 16 days after the initial phase went into effect. Israel was also obliged to start redeploying troops stationed along the Egypt-Gaza border, known as the Salaheddine or Philadelphi Corridor, including the border crossing of Rafah, by the end of the first stage, or after 42 days. Full withdrawal from the border between Egypt and Gaza was due after 50 days.
Prioritising domestic considerations and the survival of his government, Netanyahu deliberately skipped all the deadlines and obligations to which he committed in the ceasefire deal. Negotiations over the second stage, which calls for full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, a permanent end to the war and the exchange of all remaining living Israeli prisoners or Palestinian detainees held by Israel, have yet to start.
But equally important in the initial agreement signed two months ago is both parties’ commitment to extend the arrangements reached in the first stage, in terms of cessation of hostilities and the entry of humanitarian aid, mobile homes and construction equipment into Gaza, as long as negotiations on the details of the second stage go on.
Instead, as soon as the initial, six-week stage ended over a week ago, Netanyahu aimed at altering the deal and setting new conditions, confirming that his intention was only to release the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, never to end the war or carry out a full withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
To put pressure on Hamas to accept a new deal, Netanyahu immediately ordered the closure of all Israeli-controlled crossing points into Gaza, preventing the entry of hundreds of trucks carrying much needed food and fuel after many months of siege driving Palestinians to the brink of starvation.
Right after imposing the new closure, the prices of all goods more than doubled in Gaza and the shelves emptied again, adding to the miserable conditions in which more than 2.4 million people have been living close to the rubble of their homes, destroyed by Israeli carpet-bombing.
Considering that Palestinians were celebrating the holy month of Ramadan, expectations were that food supplies would increase rather than being cut off by the Israeli Occupation Forces. Charity kitchens that provided free meals for Palestinians were also forced to stop offering their services due to lack of supplies.
A few days later, confirming the policy of collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza which the International Criminal Court in the Hague considered a factor in requesting the arrest of Netanyahu and his former defence minister as suspected war criminals, the Israeli prime minister ordered the suspension of the supply of electricity to the Strip. This means endangering the lives of hundreds of Palestinians receiving medical treatment in poorly-equipped hospitals, forcing bakeries to stop producing bread and shortages in drinking water pumped by water stations.
The Israeli prime minister is clearly taking those measures in the belief that he has the full backing of the current Trump administration, which has been extremely generous in providing the Israeli Army with weapons worth more than $12 billion and reversing constraints the previous administration placed on certain bombs that killed Palestinians on a massive scale. He also considered Trump’s proposal to forcibly remove Palestinians from Gaza to nearby Arab countries, namely Egypt and Jordan, while rebuilding the Strip and turning it into a “Middle East Riviera” as an asset that he can use to exert even more pressure on Palestinians.
However, in recent weeks, Egypt and key Arab allies of the United States, namely Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, have exerted tremendous effort to convince the Trump administration of an alternative plan for reconstruction in Gaza that does not require the forced displacement of Palestinians. Despite possible good intentions in the desire to provide Palestinians with better living conditions, Trump’s proposal is simply a prescription for disaster and tremendous instability in the region. All Arab peoples and all supporters of Palestinians in the world see it as an effort to deprive Palestinians of their legitimate right to an independent state.
During the Arab Summit that Cairo hosted recently, Arab leaders, along with world powers such as Britain, Germany, France and Italy as well as the African Union and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, all supported the Egyptian plan for reconstruction in Gaza that safeguards the rights of Palestinians to remain in their homeland. Supported by all countries seeking peace, Egypt has made it clear that its plan was an initial proposal that can be supplemented with new proposals serving the interests of the Palestinian people.
Hopefully, with the Arab plan for the reconstruction of Gaza and current efforts to revive serious negotiations, an agreement can be reached that will result in a permanent ceasefire serving the interests of all parties, the Middle East and the United States.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 13 March, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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