The US President (Donald Trump) issued what he called a “final warning” to the Hamas movement to release all remaining hostages held in Gaza.
Trump, in his usual televised manner, chose his social media platform “Truth” to say, “Shalom Hamas – means Hello and Goodbye – you can choose. Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately.” What’s new in Trump’s latest statement was that his death threat included the people of the Gaza Strip, whom he addressed by saying, “If you hold hostages… you are dead.” He added, “Release the hostages now, or you will pay the price of hell later!” This was not the first time that Trump had asked the movement to “release all hostages.”
Although the course of the first phase of the agreement continued, these statements contributed to the intransigence of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government (in Israel), particularly after his meeting with Trump in Washington on Feb. 4. Israel continued violation of the agreement, declared non-compliance with the ceasefire agreement, and launched a war of starvation. It made a move to cancel the implementation of the second phase of the agreement, which is a prelude to a permanent ceasefire, leading to the third phase, which will decide the future of the Gaza Strip and its reconstruction. Netanyahu arranged his internal house to deal with these developments. Therefore, he withdrew the charge of negotiations from Ronen Bar, head of Israel’s Internal Security Service Shabak, who wants to remain committed to the three stages of the agreement, and his colleague David Barnea, head of the Mossad, and handed the charge of negotiations to his ally Ron Dermer, coinciding with the appointment of Eyal Zamir as Chief of Staff (instead of Herzi Halevi), who clearly announced his desire to return to war, stating that “the defeat of Hamas is not complete.”
The emergency Arab summit held in Cairo last Tuesday indirectly addressed the issue of disarming Hamas in the tenth item of the resolutions, which spoke of a committee of technocrats that would manage the affairs of the Gaza Strip and would be affiliated with the Palestinian National Authority.
In their response to the Arab summit resolutions, the Americans and Israelis seemed to agree on the issue of “a Gaza free of Hamas,” while the Israeli position was distinguished by its emphasis on rejecting the Palestinian Authority to replace Hamas (while the American administration did not clarify its decision in this regard).
The direct American talks with Hamas officials in the Qatari capital, Doha, is a noteworthy development. I was parting from Israel and discussing the issue of the release of American hostages directly with Hamas. It is considered a follow-up to Trump’s “State of the Union” speech he delivered a few days ago, in which he said, “We will return (our) hostages from Gaza.”
This American move contradicts an Israeli policy which refuses to deal with prisoners and divides them based on their dual nationalities. There was conflicting news in the international media that reported progress in the talks between the Americans and Hamas on the subject of this “partial deal.” Israeli media denied it.
It is not expected that this partial deal between the Americans and Hamas, if it is completed, will significantly change the course of the negotiations, but it certainly indicates that there are American priorities that differ from Israeli priorities.
Despite the importance of not underestimating the unreasonable statements that Trump makes on social media, it is clear that there is a significant amount of realpolitik in the character of this real estate entrepreneur.
[Editorial Al-Quds Al-Arabi]
Compiled and translated by Faizul Haque