Ceasefire: Trump envoy swayed Netanyahu more in one meeting than Biden did all year, say Arab officials

Ceasefire: Trump envoy swayed Netanyahu more in one meeting than Biden did all year, say Arab officials

 

The Times of Israel reports:

A “tense” weekend meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and incoming Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff led to a breakthrough in the hostage negotiations, with the top aide to US President-elect Donald Trump doing more to sway the premier in a single sit-down than outgoing President Joe Biden did all year, two Arab officials told The Times of Israel on Tuesday.

Witkoff has been in Doha for the past week to take part in the hostage negotiations, as mediators try to secure a deal before Trump’s January 20 inauguration. On Saturday, Witkoff flew to Israel for a meeting with Netanyahu at the premier’s Jerusalem office.

During the meeting, Witkoff urged Netanyahu to accept key compromises necessary for an agreement, the two Arab officials on Monday told The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity. Neither Witkoff nor Netanyahu’s office responded to requests for comment.

On Monday night — two days after the Jerusalem meeting — Israeli and Hamas negotiating teams notified mediators that they accepted the hostage deal proposal in principle, the two officials said. The sides have since been working to finalize the details regarding the implementation of the agreement.

One of the main issues that has yet to be finalized is the exact parameters of the IDF’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, with mediators still waiting for a map from Israel laying this out, the Arab officials said.

The two officials speculated that a deal would be announced on Wednesday or Thursday in the form of a joint statement from the US, Qatar and Egypt, who have been mediating between Israel and Hamas.

Earlier Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that Israel had accepted the deal to free the remaining 98 hostages, while Hamas had yet to do the same.

One of the Arab officials said that the three-phased hostage deal currently being finalized between Israel and Hamas is largely the same as the proposal that was proposed by Israel last May.

“A deal could have been reached much earlier, but both sides led to talks falling apart at various times,” the Arab official said.

The official rejected repeated assertions from the US that Hamas has been the only obstacle to a ceasefire, arguing that Israel has also thwarted talks over the past several months. The Arab official said Netanyahu walked away from the phased proposal he authorized in May, trying to instead prioritize the first phase of that offer so that Israel could resume fighting in Gaza immediately afterward.

Now both parties have agreed to once again get behind the phased framework and are doing so simultaneously — arguably for the first time, the Arab official said. [Continue reading…]

 

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