While Israel wants to negotiate the release of the Hamas hostages again, it is still not clear how the last round of negotiations could fail so badly. Egypt’s role as a mediator now comes into focus.
It was about a lot, basically everything: the release of hostages, a ceasefire and more humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza. On May 6, the Hamas leadership announced that it accepted the agreement negotiated in Cairo. “We now have a good chance for a ceasefire,” said Osama Hamdan, a foreign policy official and senior member of Hamas’ political bureau, later.
The bombed-out Palestinians in Gaza cheered, the desperate relatives of the hostages hoped – then nothing happened: no release, no ceasefire, the deal was off.
The US news channel CNN now writes in a long article that Egypt is responsible for this. Egypt’s negotiators changed the final draft without consulting Israel so that it became acceptable to the Hamas leadership.
“Everyone duped”
“We were all duped,” CNN quoted one of three anonymous sources close to the mediators as saying. In Cairo, the usual government circles are now rotating.
The report is based on unnamed sources, fumed Dia Rashwan, head of the state information service on the Arabic channel Alghat TV. CNN violated the international press code and CNN did not even ask the Egyptian side for a statement.
The Egyptian government was asked for a statement, explains CNN, but received no response. The US government did not want to confirm the report, but did not deny it either.
Indirect contacts
Egyptians, Qataris and Americans were involved in the weeks-long negotiations, and CIA Director William Burns was also there at times. There were only indirect contacts between the Israeli delegation and Hamas, established by negotiators.
It is said that the discussions have repeatedly reached a deadlock. The question was whether a binding ceasefire would lead to a permanent end to the fighting. This is what Hamas is demanding in order to ensure its survival in Gaza. Or whether the ceasefire is temporary – that’s what the Israeli government is demanding in order to destroy Hamas.
Praise from Hamas
Since there was naturally no compromise on this issue, the Egyptian negotiators became somewhat creative, reports CNN. On their own initiative, they blurred the border drawn by Israel in such a way that Hamas could agree to an agreement.
The Egyptians were really helpful, said Hamas spokesman Hamdan. “They did their best. They talked to the Israelis about a ceasefire and with us. We said yes.”
It would have been unthinkable a decade ago that a Hamas official would shower praise on the government in Cairo.
Common enemy
Hamas is an offspring of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. Since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi came to power on the Nile, they have been mercilessly fought and suppressed. But when the so-called Islamic State (IS) tried to establish itself in Gaza and the Sinai in 2015, there was suddenly a common enemy: Hamas and Egyptian secret services cooperated in the fight against IS.
The Egyptians have been able to use the trust that was created back then as negotiators in the Gaza War. The only question is: how much longer? “Egypt only took on the role of mediator because the USA and Israel asked us to do so,” says Dia Rashwan from the state information service. “But if circumstances force us to do so, we can also withdraw completely.”