<\/a>Secretary of State Antony Blinken talks to reporters in Tel Aviv, June 11, 2024.<\/p><\/div>\n
Thursday, 13 June 2024 | Hamas\u2019s official response to Israel\u2019s hostages-for-ceasefire proposal included modifications that are not workable, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHamas has proposed numerous changes to the proposal that was on the table. \u2026 Some of the changes are workable, some are not,\u201d Blinken said in a press conference alongside Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Doha.<\/p>\n
\u201cA deal was on the table that was virtually identical to the proposal that Hamas made on May 6\u2014a deal that the entire world is behind, a deal Israel has accepted. Hamas could have answered with a single word: \u2018Yes,\u2019\u201d the secretary said.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead, Hamas waited nearly two weeks and then proposed more changes, a number of which go beyond positions that had previously taken and accepted,\u201d added the top American diplomat, who was in Israel for a\u00a0two-day visit\u00a0earlier this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a result, the war Hamas started on October 7 with its barbaric attack on Israel and on Israeli civilians will go on. More people will suffer, more Palestinians will suffer, more Israelis will suffer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blinken nevertheless said that \u201cin the days ahead, we are going to continue to push on an urgent basis with our partners, with Qatar with Egypt, to try to close this deal. Because we know it\u2019s in the interests of Israelis, Palestinians, the region, indeed the entire world.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Tuesday night, Hamas submitted to Egyptian and Qatari intermediaries its formal response, including \u201camendments\u201d to the proposal that Israel said were tantamount to a rejection.<\/p>\n
An anonymous Israeli official was widely cited panning the terrorist group, which had \u201cchanged all of the main and most meaningful parameters\u201d\u00a0of the deal.<\/p>\n
Reuters<\/em>\u00a0reported on Wednesday, citing two Egyptian security officials, that Hamas is seeking written guarantees from the Biden administration for a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israel Defense Forces [IDF] troops from the Gaza Strip as a condition for signing off on the proposal.<\/p>\nThe report also said Hamas wants explicit guarantees over the transition from the first phase of the plan, which includes a six-week truce and the release of some hostages, to the second phase, which includes an end to the war and Israeli pullback.<\/p>\n
Hamas also proposed a new timeline for the phases.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nOn May 31, President Joe Biden laid out the terms of the proposal in an address from the State Dining Room at the White House.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first phase would last for six weeks,\u201d he said. \u201cHere\u2019s what it would include: a full and complete cease-fire. The withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza. Release of a number of hostages, including women, the elderly, the wounded, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.\u201d<\/p>\n
That phase, which would also include the return of the remains of dead hostages and the daily delivery of 600 trucks of aid to Gazans, would lead to an indefinite period of negotiations between Israel and Hamas to end the war, Biden said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the six weeks of phase one, Israel and Hamas would negotiate the necessary arrangements to get to phase two, which is a permanent end to hostilities,\u201d the president added. \u201cThe proposal says if the negotiations take longer than six weeks from phase one, the ceasefire will still continue as long as negotiations continue.\u201d<\/p>\n
The US, Egypt and Qatar \u201cwould work to ensure negotiations keep going until all the agreements are reached and phase two is able to begin,\u201d Biden added.<\/p>\n
In the second phase, \u201cIsraeli forces will withdraw from Gaza\u201d and \u201crelease additional Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of all remaining living hostages,\u201d the president said. Quoting the text of the proposal, he said that at that point, the ceasefire would become \u201cthe cessation of hostilities permanently.\u201d<\/p>\n
The third phase would include the reconstruction of Gaza and the return of any remaining dead hostages.\u00a0During this stage, the international community would ensure that Hamas does not rearm.<\/p>\n
Last week, leaders of 16 countries, including many whose citizens were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, issued a statement backing the proposal. Noting that Jerusalem was\u00a0\u201cready to move forward\u201d\u00a0with the terms, they called on the Gaza-based terrorist group to\u00a0\u201cclose this agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no time to lose,\u201d\u00a0read the\u00a0statement\u00a0signed by the leaders of Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand and the UK. The US also signed the statement.<\/p>\n
On Monday, the United Nations Security Council adopted a\u00a0US-drafted resolution\u00a0backing the three-phase plan to end the war. Noting that Israel had accepted it, the resolution calls for Hamas to do the same, and for both sides to \u201cimplement its terms without delay and without condition.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an\u00a0interview\u00a0with\u00a0Time<\/em>\u00a0magazine\u00a0published earlier this month, Biden described the Israeli ceasefire offer as \u201cvery generous.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cThe last offer Israel made was very generous in terms of who [Palestinian prisoners] they\u2019d be willing to release, what they\u2019d give in return, et cetera. Bibi [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] is under enormous pressure on the hostages \u2026 and so he\u2019s prepared to do about anything to get the hostages back,\u201d said Biden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thursday, 13 June 2024 | Hamas\u2019s official response to Israel\u2019s hostages-for-ceasefire proposal included modifications that are not workable, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday. \u201cHamas has proposed numerous changes to the proposal that was on the table. \u2026 Some of the changes are workable, some are not,\u201d Blinken said in a press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9632,"featured_media":224279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-224278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Blinken: Hamas Response to Hostage Proposal is Unworkable - Bridges for Peace<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n