The United States plans to present a new proposal to Hamas and Israel to fill the gaps in the final 10 percent of Phase 1 of the May 31 agreement. Pessimism remains in Jerusalem that progress is possible.
“We are not optimistic at all,” said a source The Jerusalem Post.
In a rare public appearance in London on Saturday, CIA Director William Burns stressed that 90 percent of the text required for Phase 1 of the three-phase program first launched by President Joe Biden had already been completed, but that completing the final 10 percent had been very difficult.
The US, he said, plans to submit new language this week to close those gaps.
“We are currently working very hard with the Egyptians and the Qataris, the two mediators, to refine this framework (Phase 1), add more details and bring it into a form where both leaderships see the value of moving forward,” he said at an event hosted by The Financial Times.
“I cannot sit here with all of you today and say we are going to succeed,” said Burns, who was the chief U.S. negotiator and has chaired all of the high-level summits. He has worked with the main mediators, Qatar and Egypt, to secure the release of the remaining 101 hostages, of whom an estimated 66 are still alive.
The first of two sticking points is the details of the exchange of Gaza hostages for Palestinian security prisoners and terrorists in Israeli jails. Phase 1 of the deal, which would last six weeks, is expected to see about 18 to 32 hostages exchanged for about 800 Palestinian prisoners, including some with blood on their hands.
The other sticking point is the Philadelphia Corridor, a key buffer zone between Egypt and Gaza. Israel refused to comply with Hamas’s demand that Israeli forces withdraw from this corridor in Phase 1 of the agreement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under criticism from his critics and the security apparatus for his refusal to temporarily withdraw from the corridor.
Criticism of Hamas by US negotiators increases
US negotiators have been increasingly vocal in their criticism of Hamas, particularly after the terrorist group executed six hostages over a week ago, four of whom could probably have been released in Phase 1.
Among them was 23-year-old Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin. Following the execution, Hamas escalated its demands for a hostage-prisoner exchange, a senior U.S. official told reporters last week.
Burns said Hamas should be interested in an agreement, especially because it would improve the humanitarian situation of Palestinians on the ground in the Gaza Strip.
The negotiator said the Egyptians, the Qataris and “everyone who has influence over Hamas must push hard” to agree to a deal. “They should not want to be the obstacle that stands in the way of a real improvement in the terrible conditions in Gaza,” he stressed.
“I can’t tell you how close we are. If you look at the written text (of Phase 1), it’s a fact that 90% of the paragraphs have been agreed. But in all the negotiations I’ve been involved in, the last 10% is the last 10% for a reason, because it’s the hardest part,” Burns explained.
He promised that the United States and mediators would continue to work on finalizing the first phase of the agreement.
“We will continue to work as hard as we can with the other mediators because there is no good alternative to a ceasefire and the release of the hostages,” he said.
“There is a lot at stake,” especially “for the hostages who are still alive and living in hellish conditions and tunnels under Gaza,” Burns said.
“We must all remember that despite all the work that still needs to be done, it is ultimately a question of political will,” he said, calling on the Israeli and Hamas leadership to “make some tough decisions and make difficult compromises.”
Burns also called for a plan for the day after in Gaza, saying that while Hamas’s military capabilities have been significantly weakened over the past 11 months, the group also represents an idea and a movement that is difficult to eliminate.
“In my experience, the only way to kill an idea is with a better idea,” Burns said, urging a two-state solution to move the situation forward after a ceasefire in Gaza.
British intelligence chief Richard Moore said such a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip would enable a diplomatic solution along Israel’s northern border. The Israeli military and Hezbollah have been engaged in a cross-border war since October 8.
“If we could achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, we would have a chance to reverse the momentum. We would have a chance to facilitate an agreement on the Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon. We would have a chance to address the disruptions to international shipping in the Red Sea,” Moore said.
He added that there remains a risk of Iranian retaliation against Israel following the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran this summer.
Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but is widely believed to have killed Haniyeh.
“I suspect they will try (to attack) and we will not be able to let our guard down,” Moore said. “The Iranians have a whole game of destabilizing the region.”
