Israel reportedly examines Egypt's peace plan for Gaza
Neither Hamas nor Israel's government are currently showing any interest in a negotiated solution to the Gaza war. However, although both sides have recently made it clear that they want to continue fighting, a plan by Egypt to end the war does not appear to be off the table.
According to a media report, a proposal by Egypt to end the Gaza war is not yet off the table despite intransigent statements by both warring parties. As the "Wall Street Journal " reported last 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. In addition, a delegation from the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is expected to travel to Cairo shortly to discuss Egypt's proposal as well. Hamas is not part of the PLO.
I srael and Hamas have recently made it clear that they want to continue fighting. In a guest article for the "Wall Street Journal", Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named the destruction of Hamas and the demilitarization of Gaza as a condition for peace. However, he is under increasing domestic political pressure to secure the release of the hostages still being held in Gaza. During a ceasefire lasting several days at the end of November, 105 hostages were exchanged for 240 Palestinians. 129 hostages are still believed to be in the Gaza Strip.
Israel is prepared to discuss the first phase of the Egyptian proposal, which provides for the release of further hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during a renewed ceasefire, the newspaper quoted Danny Danon, a senior member of Netanyahu's Likud party, as saying. Hamas had rejected a temporary new ceasefire on Monday and called for a permanent ceasefire.
Report on talks between PLO and Hamas
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' PLO also initially declared that it had rejected Egypt's proposal after seeing parts of it, according to the Wall Street Journal. However, it now wants to discuss the draft in Cairo. Abbas heads the secular Fatah faction in the PLO. Fatah and Hamas are adversaries. Recently, however, the Wall Street Journal reported that representatives of the Hamas politburo living in exile had held talks with their Palestinian rivals - behind the backs of the Hamas leadership fighting in Gaza - about an end to the war.
The USA, as Israel's ally, is backing a revitalized and reshaped Palestinian Authority for the period after the Gaza war. Egypt's proposal envisages a national Palestinian dialog under Egyptian auspices in a later phase. 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 would agree to an agreement that would grant Hamas a role in Gaza after the end of the war, wrote the Wall Street Journal.
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Despite the intransigent statements by both warring parties, Egypt's peace plan for ending the Israel war in the Gaza Strip is still being considered by Israel's war cabinet. In a recent article, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned the destruction of Hamas and the demilitarization of Gaza as a condition for peace, but he is under pressure to secure the release of hostages still being held in Gaza.
Israel is prepared to discuss the first phase of Egypt's proposal, which involves releasing further hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during a renewed ceasefire. However, Hamas had rejected a temporary new ceasefire and called for a permanent one on Monday.
The Egyptian proposal envisions a national Palestinian dialog under Egyptian auspices in a later phase, aiming to "end the division" and form a technocratic government. However, officials in Israel consider it unlikely that Israel would agree to an agreement that would grant Hamas a role in Gaza after the war.
Recently, representatives of Hamas' politburo living in exile held talks with their Palestinian rivals about ending the war behind the backs of the Hamas leadership in Gaza. These developments highlight the complexity of the diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, including Hamas.
Source: www.ntv.de
