US: Little Chance of Israel–Hamas Deal before November Election

September 23, 2024

by: Amelie Botbol and JNS Staff ~ JNS

Monday, 23 September 2024 | US officials believe it is highly unlikely that a hostages-for-ceasefire-and-terrorists-release agreement between Israel and Hamas will be reached before the November 5 presidential election, the Wall Street Journal report on Friday, citing staff from the White House, State Department and Pentagon.

“No deal is imminent. I’m not sure it ever gets done,” one of the officials was quoted as saying.

The current flare-up between Israel and Hezbollah has further reduced the chances of a successful diplomatic effort to halt the war in the Gaza Strip. “There’s no chance now of it happening,” an anonymous official from an Arab state told the Journal.

“I am quite concerned about the reports, but remain convinced that things are happening behind the scenes,” Efrat Machikawa, the niece of Israeli hostage Gadi Moses, told JNS on Sunday.

“I trust the many good people involved in the just fight to free all the captives and therefore refuse to let go of my hope that they will return,” she added.

Machikawa is currently in Switzerland with her aunt Margalit Moses, Gadi’s ex-wife, who was released from Hamas captivity in Gaza as part of November’s ceasefire.

Machikawa will be participating in meetings at the United Nations’ Geneva headquarters and address the Human Rights Council.

“Dealing with Hamas as a terrorist group is not something that I am capable of even understanding. I believe we can reach an agreement, but the issue is goodwill,” she said.

“The role that the negotiators play is crucial. The international community and the Israeli public must do whatever they can to support the mediators,” Machikawa continued. “My uncle and the rest of the hostages have no time. It’s a shame that we’ve arrived at day 352 [since October 7]. They should have returned in November.”

The US officials foremost blamed Hamas’s negotiation tactics for the impasse, with the terror group repeatedly sending a list of demands and then refusing to progress in talks even when Jerusalem agreed to the terms, according to the Journal report.

The report dovetails with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s harsh criticism last week of accusations he was “torpedoing” a potential deal, saying the claims echoed Hamas’s terror propaganda.

“The fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has acceded to every American proposal for releasing the hostages despite the ultimatum from elements in the coalition completely refutes the claim that he has torpedoed any deal whatsoever due to political considerations,” his office said in a statement in response to the Channel 12 report.

The Prime Minister’s Office provided a timeline of Netanyahu’s actions, starting with a proposal sent to mediators on April 27 which US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called “very generous.”

On May 31, the premier agreed to US President Joe Biden’s ceasefire proposal, and then on August 16, he agreed to the American “final bridging proposal,” according to the statement.

The statement points out that on June 12, Blinken confirmed that Jerusalem had agreed to the proposal, while Hamas rejected it.

The Prime Minister’s Office pointed to other similar statements from US officials, including Deputy CIA Director David S. Cohen, who said on August 28 that Israel was showing seriousness in the negotiations and that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar would have to respond.

On September 9, US Special Envoy to the Middle East Brett McGurk said that Hamas was to blame for the lack of a deal. On the same day, Israel’s National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz said, “Hamas has not accepted the framework for months and the world is expected to back Israel.”

Blinken said during a visit to Egypt on Wednesday that a ceasefire deal was the “best chance” to restore stability in the Middle East.

“We all know that a ceasefire is the best chance to tackle the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, to address risks to regional stability,” Blinken told reporters at a joint press conference in Cairo, speaking alongside Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.

Washington’s top diplomat said the sides had agreed on 15 out of 18 paragraphs of the agreement, but that outstanding issues needed to be resolved.

Ruby Chen, the father of Itay Chen, one of seven American citizens still held by Hamas in Gaza, spoke to JNS from New York, where he is campaigning for the release of his son.

“We were in Washington over the last couple of days and met with CIA Director William Burns, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, [Democratic] VP Candidate Tim Walz and a number of congressmen,” Chen said. “We heard firsthand that the US administration keeps doing what it can to facilitate a deal and de-escalate the tensions in the region,” he added.

Chen stressed that while he understands that Hamas is an obstacle, he believes the Israeli government should do more, such as dropping its demand to maintain a military presence along the Philadelphi Corridor separating Gaza from Sinai.

“Hamas is a terrorist organization that wishes to see chaos in the region,” he said. “What is happening in the north gives [Hamas terror chief Yahya] Sinwar motivation to wait and not move forward with a deal.

“There are 101 hostages holding 22 different nationalities and belonging to four different religions,’ Chen added. “This is not an Israeli issue; this is a world issue.”

Chen will be attending the UN General Assembly’s annual general debate, which kicks off on Tuesday, to advocate for the humanitarian release of the hostages and push to decouple the crisis from the broader conflict with the Palestinians.

“For 70 years, the world has tried to solve the Palestinian issue. By adding the hostage crisis, we make it much more difficult to get them back,” Chen said.

Posted on September 23, 2024

Source: (This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on September 22, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Gili Yaari/Flash90/jns.org