NETANYAHU'S COALITION LOOKS SAFE AS EVEN HIS OPPONENTS REJECT HAMAS' CEASE-FIRE OFFER

Netanyahu's Coalition Looks Safe as Even His Opponents Reject Hamas' Cease-fire Offer

National Unity ministers and Israel's negotiating team oppose the Gaza terror group's proposal, which differs from the one that Israel accepted in three critical ways – including the fact that Hamas refuses to guarantee the hostages free in the first stage of the deal will be alive

May 08th, 06AM May 08th, 06AM

Hamas' proposal for a cease-fire in exchange for releasing hostages is not expected to present a problem for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government or land him in any kind of political trap. That is because it is not identical to the wording of the Egyptian proposal that Israel had earlier agreed to and even more importantly, because it is not acceptable even to those in the cabinet and the government, namely the National Unity party, the defense establishment and the negotiating team itself.

The Hamas proposal is different from the one that Israel accepted in three ways that have been deemed "critical" by sources involved in the talks for the Israeli side. Hamas announced that it was prepared to release in the first phase 33 hostages "dead and alive." In other words, it refused to prioritize live hostages. That was to be the first phase in a three-phase transaction, in which each step is more fraught than the previous one, and everyone involved has expressed deep skepticism that it will last beyond the first phase.

Second, Hamas rejected giving Israel a veto over which Palestinian prisoners to be released in the deal. "We will not release any more Sinwars, who murdered dozens of Israelis in the past and intended to do the same in the future," says one source involved in the negotiations. "We learned our lesson – we saw what murders do to us after they are released."

Another concern in regard to Hamas' proposal is that releasing "important prisoners" at an early stage will significantly undercut Israel's bargaining power in later phases of the deal, namely the release of soldiers and civilian security personnel.

Third, no Israeli official is ready right now to end the war, a demand that Hamas has insisted on all through the talks and that has led to the collapse of previous rounds. It makes no difference how much the mediators try to obfuscate the terms and obscure them to enable each side to read them as they want.

"If those in favor of a deal at any cost said, 'Yes, we give up Israeli settlement in the Western Negev and near the northern border because the State of Israel cannot provide security for the people there as long as Hamas controls Gaza and Hezbollah is not deterred and taken care of, then I would say fine, that is a legitimate position, even if I don't agree with it," says a government minister. "But that's not what we're talking about. Therefore, the discourse that places the blame on the Israeli government is a discourse of lies."

The government sees the Hamas announcement, which came as a surprise Monday evening, as further proof that the organization only responds to military pressure. "Benny Gantz did say what he said for no reason," says a Likud minister, referring to the National Unity party leader's remark that entering Rafah was part of Israel's efforts to secure the release of the hostages. "Hamas announced that it was ready for a deal only when it saw [Israeli] troops heading for Rafah. They don't make rational calculations; they react to force."

Yet, despite all of the above, which reflect the view of the entire cabinet, no one has a solution to the binary problem that they have faced since the start of the Gaza war: either it is the return of the hostages in exchange for allowing Hamas to survive or it is sacrificing the hostages by continuing the war. Hamas knows what all these Israeli sources know: Israel has no intention of ending the war and any third phase that includes the exchange of bodies, a cease-fire and what Hamas defines as "the lifting of the siege on Gaza" is just lip service.

"Hamas knows that we'll complete one phase or two of the deal, and that will continue the fight. That is the bone of contention. The truth is that if Sinwar doesn't want a deal, there won't be one. It's not connected with Netanyahu or anyone else," says a cabinet source. "The negotiating team has a very clear mandate regarding numbers and red lines that no one can defy, including Netanyahu. With all due respect to the mediators and a sense of gratitude for [U.S. President Joe] Biden, who really wants an end to the war, Israel's security does not allow us to accept the Hamas proposal."

2024-05-08T03:15:30Z dg43tfdfdgfd