Hamas's fear of the rule of the Palestinian Authority and "mentor states" in Gaza, caused the flexibility of its position regarding the end of the war; On the other hand, the organization has hardened its position regarding "eternal negotiations" (in the spirit of Biden's clarification when presenting the Israeli outline). In the Fatah organization, people are angry and say: Netanyahu is a "liar", fearing that the Prime Minister is using the Palestinian Authority as a lever of pressure on Hamas, and not as a true partner
BY Mati Cohen
The reality between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip remains, even now, after the "flexibility" of Hamas, exactly as it was on April 28, when we exclusively reported here (see issue 144) that Israel and Hamas agree to blur the ceasefire agreement, in such a way that the agreement expresses the The de facto cessation of war but will express the de jure continuation.
Even now the change on both sides is only on paper; The change remained only on paper, due to the US's wrongly interfering in the negotiations twice since April 28, when Israel and Hamas had already agreed to blur the cessation of war clause in a way that would express the de facto cessation of the war but would also express its de jure continuation.
The first time the US allegedly intervened was published in Saudi Arabia; according to the said report in Saudi Arabia, the US intended to give Hamas a guarantee that the war would stop.
Netanyahu's response was already on the day of publication, Saturday, and he withdrew from any agreement he had with Hamas regarding the obfuscation of the clause on the cessation of war. The second time there was American intervention, whether by intention or by mistake, was when President Biden published the Israeli outline; While submitting the clauses, President Bidan emphasized that even if the negotiations in the second phase do not produce an agreement, even then the negotiations will continue. Israel hastened to make it clear that it would not agree to the cessation of the war, and Hamas wrote down Bidan's clause, and brought it up this week. How did Hamas bring up Biden's emphasis again? Here is the explanation:
Last week we exclusively published here that behind-the-scenes Netanyahu is negotiating with the Palestinian Authority, and he has allowed it to practice accepting the crossings and civilian rule in Gaza. We also reported that clashes had already begun between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, and that Hamas had arrested an unknown number of Palestinian Authority personnel in Gaza.
The publication of the news alarmed Hamas, which, according to a reliable Palestinian source, "is more afraid of Palestinian Authority control in Gaza than it is of the IDF."
Hamas's response to the possibility of the Palestinian Authority taking control of the crossings and Gaza was immediate: it announced that it accepted Bidan's outline (again), but this time his agreement was accompanied by the fact that he waived a clause on the cessation of war; On the other hand, Hamas is now insisting on another clause, the meaning of which is the same: the de facto cessation of war: Hamas demands that Bidan's commitment when he published the outline, according to which even if the negotiations fail, it will still continue, and as long as the negotiations continue , Israel cannot return to war: amas demands that this commitment be reflected in the agreement. In other words, Hamas is now demanding eternal negotiations, instead of the cessation of war; and in a practical sense, the two demands are the same.
According to the response of the Israeli delegation to Qatar, the delegation immediately perceived that Hamas is deceiving Israel, just as Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a senior source at Petah, is deceiving the Palestinian Authority. The source told us this week that "Netanyahu is a liar", thereby clarifying the absolute lack of trust that Fatah has in Binyamin Netanyahu. The anger naturally stems from the fact that Petah and the Palestinian Authority now fear that the permission that Netanyahu gave the Palestinian Authority to practice accepting the crossings and civilian control in the Gaza Strip is only a lever to pressure Hamas, and there is no thought of a political partnership here.
Now the attempt to formulate a wording that will be accepted by both sides continues. The additional clauses that Hamas demands at this stage, in addition to the clauses that we have published in recent months, are: Again: a "sustainable peace" clause, and in the current genre it is about ending the war in the form of eternal negotiations. The second section refers to the publication that the Palestinian Authority is practicing the concept of crossings and government, and Hamas is again demanding an Israeli withdrawal from the Egyptian border, that is, from the Philadelphia axis, and from the Rafah crossing. This demand also refers to the possibility that we published according to which Egypt would be one of the "mentoring" countries of the Palestinian Authority (along with Qatar). In this context, the quick reaction of Hamas could lead to another quick withdrawal of Egypt from the role that Israel and the US have designated for it. It is hard to assume that Egypt will agree to enter Gaza without the consent of Hamas.