Hamas-Israel Nears Closing A Peace Deal: Report
The Biden administration seems closer to getting a deal done between Israel and Hamas to halt major fighting in Gaza, release Israeli hostages, and provide additional humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians, as per a report in the Washington Post.
In an Opinion piece, Columnist David Ignatius writes about some official information on the agreed framework and negotiation details of how it will be implemented. It reports that Middle East adviser Brett McGurk and CIA Director William J. Burns have been negotiating between the parties. However, the final agreement is probably not impending; the details are complex and will take time to work through.
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Reportedly, the agreement will see a three-stage resolution of the conflict. In the first round, under a six-week ceasefire, Hamas would release 33 Israeli hostages, including all female prisoners, all men above 50, and those who were wounded, whereas Israel would release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and withdraw troops from densely populated areas toward the eastern border of Gaza. Humanitarian aid would flow to Palestine, hospitals would be repaired and rubble would be cleared.
Hamas recently, accepted the reassuring language of UNSC resolution affirming the US-negotiated deal. “If the negotiations take longer than six weeks for phase one, the ceasefire will still continue as long as negotiations continue,” the resolution says. And the American, Qatari, Egyptian mediators will work to ensure that negotiation keeps going.
It further says that both Israel and Hamas have signalled to agree for an ‘interim governance’ plan to begin with Phase 2, in which neither Hamas nor Israel would rule Gaza. The security will be provided by US trained forces and backed by moderate Arab allies drawn from a core group of Palestinian Authority in Gaza. “Hamas has told mediators that it is prepared to relinquish authority to the interim governance government”, the report said.
The third phase envisions a ‘multi-year reconstruction plan’ described by U.N resolution.
The deal is nearing final with Qatar and Egypt mediation and reportedly, Qatar pressured Hamas to accept the pact in order to being present there; meanwhile, Egypt provided last minute help to block any new tunnels across its border with Gaza after Israel withdraws its troops.
According to the opinion piece, if the ceasefire agreement is done it will further help in engaging Lebanon and Saudi Arabia to reduce the danger of a broader war. The agreement would also include withdrawal of Hezbollah forces north and Israeli acceptance of border changes that Hezbollah has demanded for long, Ignatius writes.
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Ignatius said that if a final agreement were reached it would validate the patient diplomacy of President Biden with the role of a peacemaker in the Middle East with strong military support to Israel. The agreement would validate and afford Biden to step back from his Presidential elections or push further for the second term.
The nine-month war will provide a respite to both sides, where Israel wants to rest its troops and prepare for possible conflicts with Iran and its proxies in the region and Hamas, is low on ammunition and supplies, he wrote. The Palestinian civilian are also pressurising Hamas for a plausible truce.
