• The US continues to impose a deal for a ceasefire, blaming Hamas for holding out with unworkable demands, stopping a deal from being agreed upon.
• Hamas states “willingness” to cooperate, while Israel’s commitment to the ceasefire is unclear.
The United Nations had agreed to adopt the United States’ supposed Israeli-backed resolution calling for an immediate and complete ceasefire earlier this week.
As reported by Ibrahim Refahi, the deal consisted of a three-phase plan, which was met with objections and internal feuding within the Israeli government. Despite their issues, the US felt that Israel would accept the ceasefire if Hamas did also.
Hamas’ Fresh Proposal
Hamas have stated that the details of the ceasefire proposal were incomplete, vague and at times, ‘confusing’.
Hamas subsequently proposed amendments to the ceasefire deal which included:
• Day one of the first phase – Israeli forces withdraw from populated areas and temporary ceasefire comes into effect
• Day three – Israeli forces begin to completely withdraw from the Rafah crossing, the Philadelphia corridor and the so-called Netzarim corridor, which dissects the Gaza Strip from east to West in the middle area
• Day seven – Israel’s withdrawal from the specified areas shall be completed
• By the end of the first phase on day 42 – Israeli forces shall completely withdraw from Gaza Strip leaving no soldiers within the Palestinian territory
For prisoner exchanges:
• Hamas said it would release 33 Israeli captives – dead or alive – in the first phase
• The captives would be released in stages with three people released three days apart
• If Israel doesn’t commit to a complete withdrawal from Gaza by day 7 Hamas will halt the captives release
• Hamas rejects any Israeli conditions or vetoes on which Palestinian prisoners would be released in exchange for the Israeli captives
• The first phase shall end with a declaration of restoring sustainable calm
• This means a complete cessation of all military operations
• Hamas also ask that Russia, China and Türkiye be added as guarantors
Eroding Trust
Hamas behave as they no longer believe what the Biden administration have to say. Blinken is not a mediator, he is part of the problem. All US diplomats in general have been hindering or stalling any progress that needs to be made to save Palestine from further atrocities.
Hamas has now proposed that Russia, China and Türkiye be added as guarantors. By making this move, pushing for more involvement when it comes to Russia China and Türkiye in the Palestinian and Israeli case, would put pressure on America to deliver what is needed for the Palestinian people or risk humiliation as the other named countries vilify Biden, his administration and the West further.
What was originally met with optimism when Biden held a press conference almost two weeks ago, has now turned to scepticism from many organisations and countries, on whether the Israelis would ever adhere to the plan owing to the many times an Israeli official or Netanyahu has come out in recent weeks to say the ‘war would continue until Palestine or Hamas is destroyed’.
Incidentally, the Israeli delegation sent to negotiate with Hamas was more lenient than Netanyahu, as they had agreed with many of the ceasefire proposals previously. It was only when the proposals reached Netanyahu that the Israelis rejected them. Even with the amended proposals the Israeli delegation continues to say that a deal can be worked on to reach a solution, with involvement from Russia, China and Türkiye.
The US, however, is still spewing propaganda with Blinken on his eighth tour of the Middle East, while in Qatar he said that ‘Hamas could not be allowed to dictate the future of the region’, which is an extremely hypocritical remark from him given the overriding colonial control they have over the region after committing many genocide and war crimes themselves.
What Was Said in the UN – The Basics
The votes were counted as 14 in favour including the UK and US, with only one abstention from Russia who made a point of highlighting that the US went over the UN Council as they did not know of nor could not see details of the agreement; that there was no negotiation process; with no agreement officially confirmed by the Israelis. Russian Federation Ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya also stated that they “do not wish to block the resolution as the Arab world supports it.”
US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas Greenfield who was responsible for failing to vote in favour of most of the previous ceasefire proposals, was acting with the grace and pomp of someone who felt they should be thanked for bringing the “war” to a conclusion as if they had done everyone a favour, when they could have ended the unnecessary loss of Palestinian lives months ago. Much of her statement was focused on the suffering of Israelis and how Hamas is hindering the negotiations.
The key phrase here is that apparently “Israel has already agreed to this deal and the fighting could stop today if Hamas would do the same”.
Predictably this is far from the truth. The Israelis have neither confirmed nor committed to the ceasefire deal publicly. Despite Joe Biden trying to label this as an “Israeli offer” of a ceasefire deal there has been no confirmation from Netanyahu of this other than that there “can be no ceasefire until Hamas has been defeated”.
Hamas is a proscribed group in the UK. S2J News does not endorse any proscribed groups, including Hamas. Instead, it is committed to reporting the injustices faced by innocent Palestinian civilians at this present time.
