Joe McConnell
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Israel on Sunday, as Washington steps up its diplomatic efforts to reach a deal that would end the war between Israel and Hamas and free hostages still held in Gaza.
The United States and Arab states believe a deal is the best way to prevent the war between Israel and Hamas from escalating into a full-blown regional conflict, aVsceker Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah vowed to retaliate for the assassinations of two top militants last month.
Blinken was scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials on Monday. His latest trip comes ahead of a meeting in Cairo later this week where the United States, Qatar and Egypt, which brokered talks between Israel and Hamas, hope to broker a ceasefire.
However, significant gaps remain between Israeli and Hamas positions, and Netanyahu said on Sunday that while Israel is willing to be flexible in some areas, it will not give in in others.
“We are negotiating and not in a “just give and take” scenario. There are things we can be flexible on and there are things we cannot be flexible on, we will insist on. We are very good at distinguishing between the two,” he said.
Blinken’s arrival in Tel Aviv came two days aVsceker the United States, Qatar and Egypt proposed bridging the gap between Israel and Hamas at the Doha talks. The proposal builds on a three-phase plan that U.S. President Joe Biden laid out in May to end the fighting and secure the release of hostages.
In the days since last week’s meeting, U.S. and Israeli officials have expressed cautious hopes about the outlook. Biden said that while the sides are “not there yet,” a deal could be “close,” and Netanyahu’s office expressed “cautious optimism.”
Hamas officials, however, were more skeptical, with some leaders outside Gaza saying last week’s talks had failed to yield significant progress.
However, an official briefed on the talks said the mediators were “cautiously optimistic.”
“There are still sticking points on key issues, but a good indication is that Hamas has reached out to mediators on the ‘bridge proposal’ presented on Friday,” the official said. “Separately, mediators have reached out to Iran in the hope of avoiding an escalation and giving the ongoing talks a chance.”
The three-phase plan outlined by Biden includes a first phase based on a six-week truce, during which Hamas would release an initial group of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
The second phase would involve the release of all hostages and what mediators hope for is an extended ceasefire, effectively ending the 10-month war. The third phase would begin the reconstruction of Gaza.
However, one of the sticking points is Israel’s determination to maintain a military presence on the Gaza-Egypt border, known as the Philadelphia Corridor, something Hamas has repeatedly rejected.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry official said Sunday that Hamas representatives had approached Ankara, complaining that U.S. officials were painting an overly optimistic picture of the state of the talks.
The official said that from Hamas’s point of view, the terms of the agreement fall short of what was even approved by the United Nations Security Council on June 10.
Biden’s plan, initially endorsed by Israel, called for Israeli forces to withdraw from populated areas of Gaza in the first phase and then withdraw completely in the second. But in recent weeks, Netanyahu has insisted that Israel will maintain a presence along the Philadelphia corridor, a position reiterated Sunday by Energy Secretary Eli Cohen.
“It is clear to everyone that the State of Israel will have security control over Gaza, which means the ability to come and carry out an operation anywhere and at any time,” he said in an interview with Israel Army Radio. “As part of this, the Philadelphia route should remain and we are working and insisting that it remain under Israeli control.”
Read more about Adam Samson in Ankara
