According to a media report, an Egyptian proposal to end the Gaza war is not yet off the table, despite intransigent statements from both warring parties. As the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday night, Israel’s war cabinet has forwarded Egypt’s proposal for a gradual end to the war against the Islamist Hamas to a larger group of ministers for consideration. A delegation from the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is also expected to travel to Cairo soon to also discuss Egypt’s proposal. Hamas is not part of the PLO.
Both Israel and Hamas recently made it clear that they wanted to continue fighting. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned the dismantling of Hamas and the demilitarization of Gaza as a condition for peace in a guest article for the newspaper on Tuesday. However, he is under increasing domestic pressure to secure the release of the hostages still held in Gaza.
During a ceasefire lasting several days at the end of November, 105 hostages were exchanged for 240 Palestinians. Israel is ready to discuss the first phase of Egypt’s proposal, which would see the release of more hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during a new ceasefire, the newspaper quoted Danny Danon, a senior member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, as saying.
Hamas on Monday rejected a temporary new ceasefire and called for a permanent ceasefire. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s PLO also initially said it had rejected Egypt’s proposal after seeing parts of it, the Wall Street Journal reported. However, she now wants to discuss the draft in Cairo. Abbas leads the secular Fatah faction in the PLO. Fatah and Hamas are rivals.
However, according to a recent report in the newspaper, exiled representatives of the Hamas politburo have now held talks with their Palestinian rivals about ending the war – behind the backs of the Hamas leadership fighting in Gaza. The USA, as Israel’s ally, is committed to a revitalized and transformed Palestinian Authority for the period after the Gaza war.
Egypt’s proposal calls for a national Palestinian dialogue under Egyptian auspices at a later stage. The aim is to “end the division” and form a technocratic government. The passage refers to the rivalry between Fatah and Hamas. Officials in Israel consider it unlikely that Israel will agree to an agreement that would grant Hamas a role in Gaza after the end of the war, wrote the Wall Street Journal.
