(C) Common Dreams
This story was originally published by Common Dreams and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



Israel Was Less Flexible in Recent Gaza Cease-Fire Talks, Documents Show [1]

['Ronen Bergman', 'Patrick Kingsley', 'Adam Rasgon']

Date: 2024-08-13  

For weeks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has denied that he is trying to block a cease-fire deal in Gaza by hardening Israel’s negotiating position. Mr. Netanyahu has consistently placed all blame for the deadlocked negotiations on Hamas, even as senior members of the Israeli security establishment accused him of slowing the process himself.

But in private, Mr. Netanyahu has, in fact, added new conditions to Israel’s demands, additions that his own negotiators fear have created extra obstacles to a deal. According to unpublished documents reviewed by The New York Times that detail Israel’s negotiating positions, Israel relayed a list of new stipulations in late July to American, Egyptian and Qatari mediators that added less flexible conditions to a set of principles it had made in late May.

Doubts have also been raised about Hamas’s willingness to compromise on key issues, and the group also requested its own extensive revisions throughout the process, while ceding some smaller points in July. On Tuesday, Ahmad Abdul Hadi, a Hamas official, said the group would not be participating in a new round of negotiations set to take place in Doha or Cairo on Thursday.

But the documents reviewed by The Times make clear that the behind-the-scenes maneuvering by the Netanyahu government has been extensive — and suggest that agreement may be elusive at the talks set to begin this week.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/13/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-cease-fire-talks.html

Published and (C) by Common Dreams
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0..

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/commondreams/