For months, it seemed that negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian militant Hamas movement were going, albeit slowly. The result was the ceasefire first and only later peace. Classic procedure for any conflict.
But it seems that the Israeli government, together with the US President Donald Trump administrative, may have fogged, and, according to many, has actually knew for many months that negotiations were nowhere. The problem was that she didn’t tell the public.
Now the US and Israel have officially changed tactics – in short, either everything or nothing. Thus, either Hamas will completely disarm, disappear, dissolve his warriors, but especially, especially, will dismiss all hostages – at least those who are still alive. Only then will anyone talk to him.
But the relatives of the captured Israelis now claim that it has been all lost time so far. Changes in the tactics are also criticized by the Palestinian advocates – while the Americans and the Israelis were to noble, the victims of Israeli bombing, including children in the Gaza Strip, were added in thousands. Maybe unnecessarily.
“After six months, they realized that it could not be done in practice. We lost half a year,” father of American-Israeli soldier Itaya Chen, Ruby.
A truce? It was a chymera
For months, the Israeli government has focused on negotiations on the so-called two-phase agreement on a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and the release of some hostages, postponing discussions on the permanent end of the war for later.
Now the main envoy Steve Witkoff was in Gaza for the first time since the conflict of Trump. A real estate agent with zero research in foreign policy, but one of Trump’s closest friends since the current US President has also been “only” a real estate agent decades ago. In the past he visited Moscow and met with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and now he plans to repeat it.
However, even after his visit to Gaza, Israel and Hamas continue to hold very different positions and analysts say that this new approach will face major challenges.
The United States has not issued any public declaration on the state of the latest peace negotiations. But members of Israeli families published interviews that led to Trump’s ambassador Witkoff: bring all hostages of houses to one agreement, disarm Hamas and end the war. It is easier to suggest how it realizes. The world is waiting for what happens the following days.
Arab countries surprised: Hamas must end
Already last week, a new vision of peace in the Middle East has appeared, proposing the withdrawal of Israel from Gaza and the West Bank, the disarmament and dissolution of Hamas and the creation of a united Palestinian state. The plan was established at a high -level conference in New York on the last days of July, and there were representatives of 17 states, the European Union and the Arab League.
The resulting design is “a comprehensive and feasible framework for implementing the solution of two states and achieving peace and security for all”.
Among the signatories are Turkey and Middle East States Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and Jordan. Europe was represented by France, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom (it may not be reminded that Slovakia has not represented).
Asia was represented by Indonesia, Africa Senegal and America Brazil, Canada and Mexico. But both the US and Israel were not present.
When the Arab countries, along with the Western ones, called for Hamas to dissolve.
Although the final document from the meeting condemns Hamas’s attack on Israel of October 7, 2023 and recalls that the captivity of hostages is a violation of international law, it does not spare the link between the Palestinian state and the end of the Israeli attack on civilians in Gaza.
It states: “Without decisive measures aimed at solving two states and without strong international guarantees, the conflict will deepen and peace in the region will continue to be unreachable.”
Europe also does not like the procedure of Israel
Since the beginning of the war, more than 60,000 Palestinians, including thousands of children, have been killed in Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, which, however, does not distinguish between civilians and fighters. International humanitarian organizations acting in the Gaza Strip talk about similar numbers, although they still have to be based on data provided by Hamas -controlled authorities. But even the Western countries do not question them too much for exceptions.
Foreign independent media have only extremely limited access to Gaza. Worse, Israel prevents humanitarian organizations in particular so that they can even enter Gaza. The British government has recently announced that thousands of children suffering from disease and hunger want to move to the British Isles and provide them with health care.
Last week, the European Commission in one of the sharpest critics of the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu, which has ever been heard on her part. Israel explicitly accused “human rights violations” to cause a potential “famine” in Gaza. This reproaching evaluation appeared in the text of the Commission’s proposal to suspend part of the EU association agreement with Israel in response to the crisis. The long -standing most powerful allies are turning away from Israel – especially the United Kingdom and France or Germany.
The Commission in its condemning written verdict to Israeli steps, which was sent by diplomat and published on the Internet, commented quite clearly:
