Israel-Hamas War Talks Go Nowhere

The Biden peace proposal to end the Israel-Hamas war has little chance of being accepted by either side. Israel will not trade ending the war for the release of hostages or agree to a permanent ceasefire until Hamas is destroyed. The Biden administration's efforts to broker an agreement have failed. Israel has not fully accepted the proposal and rejects the idea of withdrawing from Gaza. Hamas accuses Netanyahu of refusing a permanent ceasefire. Israel also rejects a French proposal to halt exchanges of fire with Hezbollah. The US has not pressured Israel to negotiate seriously with Hamas. The war will continue with more casualties and war crimes. Hamas wants a permanent ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal, while Netanyahu wants to ensure Hamas doesn't rise again. The US is unwilling to address these conflicting positions. Hello, everyone. In my commentary last week, I said the Biden peace proposal to end Israel-Hamas war didn't have a ghost of a chance of being accepted by either side. Israel, I said, has made clear that it will not trade ending the war on Hamas for the release of all the hostages, nor will it agree to a permanent ceasefire unless and until Hamas is completely destroyed. That means first that the Israeli Defense Forces, the IDF, will continue with operations to reduce the Rafah area to rubble in search of Hamas fighters, and that Israel plans to make a major thrust into the West Bank and possibly Lebanon to subdue Hezbollah. A week has passed and much has happened to dampen expectations even further. The Biden administration's efforts to broker an agreement by sending Secretary of State Antony Blinken on countless expeditions to the Middle East have failed. Blinken blames Hamas and pretends that Israel has been on board all along. Israel accepted the proposal as it was, he said. Hamas could have answered with a single word, yes. At some point in a negotiation, and this has gone back and forth for a long time, you get to a point where if one side, Hamas, continues to change its demands, including making demands and insisting on changes for things it had already accepted, you have to question whether they're proceeding in good faith or not. It's time for the haggling to stop and a ceasefire to start. It's as simple as that, Blinken concluded. That position is inaccurate and terribly one-sided. Israel has never fully accepted the Biden proposal because it would impose a permanent ceasefire, just as the IDF is seeking to completely destroy Hamas in the Rafah area to the south and in northern Gaza. Nor does the Netanyahu government accept the idea of Israel's complete withdrawal from Gaza in phase one of Biden's proposal. As for Hamas constantly making new demands, it answers as follows, quote, we reacted positively to Biden's speech, but at the same time we heard nothing from Netanyahu except an intention to continue the war. The Netanyahu government continued to refuse any permanent ceasefire, contrary to the Security Council's resolution. Blinken said that Israel agreed to the latest proposal, but we have not heard such agreement from any senior Israeli official. We call on Blinken and the Biden administration to put pressure on the Israeli government. That was Hamas's official statement, which, by the way, I have not seen published in any major US newspaper. Further complicating matters, Israel seems intent on expanding operations in the West Bank and Lebanon against Hezbollah, another point I raised last week. The Israeli government has rejected a French proposal that Israel and the US join with France in a plan that would halt the ongoing exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah. The plan, as reported by the New York Times June 14, is for a diplomatic engagement with Hezbollah and, quote, a framework that includes a smaller buffer zone of roughly six miles from Lebanon's border with Israel and an increase in the number of Lebanese army troops stationed in the border area. Israel told French President Macron to stuff it, saying the plan was, quote, hostile to Israel. When he first presented his proposal May 31st, President Biden said it is time for this war to end. Now, Blinken says it's time for the haggling to stop. Nowhere, however, do we have a US official saying that Israel either has to get serious about talks with Hamas if it wants the hostages released or face real consequences in terms of US aid and political support. All the leverage belongs to Prime Minister Netanyahu and his far-right cabinet. At the same time, Hamas, according to one unconfirmed report, is asking that the US provide a written guarantee of Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and adherence to a ceasefire. The White House evidently hasn't responded to this quite reasonable request. Thus, the war will go on with more civilian casualties, more starvation in Gaza, more US weapons deliveries to Israel, more intense fighting in northern Gaza and Lebanon, and more war crimes by both sides, as the United Nations Commission has just determined. One Israeli commentator succinctly summarizes the negotiating situation this way, quote, Hamas is not ready for a deal without ending the war, and the Netanyahu government is not ready for a deal that ends the war, unquote. Hamas demands to know at the start that there will be a permanent ceasefire and guaranteed Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The Netanyahu government wants to make sure Hamas doesn't rise again before agreeing to those demands, and thereby hopes to ensure its political future. And the United States is unwilling to make a real difference by addressing those conflicting positions even-handedly. I'm Mel Gertau for The Global Citizen. Thanks for listening.