US Wants to Continue Ceasefire Talks Despite $20 Billion Arms Sale to Israel
According to authoritative sources, new ceasefire negotiations involving Gaza are set to take place in Doha. The emissaries will be from the Israeli and Qatari governments and include American and Egyptian advisors. However, whether the Palestinian group Hamas will be part of these important discussions, which will be held in the Qatari capital on Thursday, is still in doubt.
But this was not the only thing that could be said about it: the U. S. Department of State has stated that Qatar has informed Washington about Hamas’s participation in the talks. Still, Hamas has not shown much confidence in the negotiations, and it even accused Israel of procrastinating over the issue. The group has, for instance, put the Palestinian people’s loss of life resulting from Israeli operations in the past ten months at 39000 people.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that the renewed negotiations could give Israel a chance to set new terms and carry on with the operations under a cloak of diplomacy. He said that with guarantees of returning to the framework, Biden suggested that Hamas would agree to send an envoy to Doha in May.
Al Jazeera’s broadcaster in Amman, Jordan, Hamdah Salhut, said Hamas insists that the mediators stick to Biden’s first deal. The group has stressed that it is yet to establish its stance on the dialogue based on the said conditions.
On the other hand, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has affirmed that there will be a delegation from Israel in Thursday’s discussions. His office released a statement that the team had been given the green light to proceed and that they had the responsibility of conducting the negotiations. The Israeli delegation will include David Barnea of Mossad, Ronen Bar of Shin Bet, Nitzan Alon, and Ophir Falk, a political adviser to Bennett and Netanyahu.
The restart of talks has occurred after constant pressure from the mediating countries that threatened a deterioration of the situation in the region, given the current hostilities in Gaza. Other senior Iranian officials have also pointed out that only an agreed cease-fire is going to stop Iranian direct action against Israel after the assassination of the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that CIA director Bill Burns and U.S. Middle East envoy Brett McGurk will attend the United States delegation to the ceasefire meeting. Although Hamas’s participation was in doubt, Jean-Pierre indicated that the U.S. was optimistic about achieving progress during the negotiations.
Al Jazeera’s White House correspondent Kimberly Halkett said the US administration, despite recognizing the challenge, sees a lot of potential in the talks to serve as a step towards a ceasefire and avoid escalation of conflict in the region. The Biden administration still pays much attention to these negotiations, even though the way to a deal seems to be getting even more remote.
