What we have IS two sides that appear to NOT trust each other making ANY cease-fire and end of the conflict impossibe at this time…
The ‘pressure ‘ from the American President simply isn’t working….
There ARE still hostages and POW’s in captivity….
Israel is STILL hunting Hamas fighters ….
Gaza civilans are still dying….
The polio operation contiunes….
The latest obstacle — the abrupt introduction by Hamas of a new demand surrounding which prisoners Israel would release — underscores the frustrating, often excruciating process that has preoccupied top U.S. officials, and Biden himself, for nine months. At several recent points the United States, along with Qatar and Egypt, believed a deal was within reach, only for Israel or Hamas to derail the talks with new demands that set negotiators back weeks or months.
Overall, Biden’s chances of ending the 11-month war in Gaza and bringing home the remaining hostages before he leaves office appear ever more remote, making it more likely that he will end his presidency without mediating an end to the conflict that engulfed his final year in office and threatens to tarnish his legacy….
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“Most days, it’s pretty clear the Americans are working much harder than the Israeli government is working at this,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “I think [a cease-fire] has been not a terribly likely outcome because of the political calculations that both [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and Hamas make. I give a lot of credit to the Biden team for persevering and trying to restart and re-energize these talks, even as both sides seem to throw up significant obstacles….
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Negotiators increasingly fear that a deal is out of reach. Netanyahu has not wavered on the Philadelphi Corridor, despite rising pressure from hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have flooded the streets to protest his position. Even if Netanyahu agrees to phase one of a deal, negotiators are not confident he would ever accept a phrase two that includes a permanent end to the war.
Negotiating with Hamas has also proved agonizing, U.S. officials said. Only its leader in Gaza, Yehiya Sinwar, can sign off on behalf of the group, and it remains unclear how motivated he is to come to an agreement.
“You can’t be the mediator between two sides when you want something more than the two sides want it,” said Ivo Daalder, ambassador to NATO under President Barack Obama. “Just because there isn’t an alternative doesn’t mean this strategy is working. The amount of talent we’ve deployed to get where we are, which is nowhere, is really remarkable, and at some point you need to decide it doesn’t work.”
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Huge numbers of Israelis again poured into the streets to protest the government’s failure to secure the return of remaining hostages in Gaza, while hospital and local authorities said Israeli air raids in the territory killed more than a dozen people overnight into Saturday.
The new protest came a week after one of the largest demonstrations of the warfollowing the discovery of another six dead hostages in Gaza, and after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back against pressure for a cease-fire deal and declared that “no one will preach to me.”
“I think even those who were maybe reluctant to go out, who are not used to protest, who are sad but prefer to be in private space within their sadness, understood our voice must join together to one huge scream: Bring the hostages with a deal. Do not risk their lives,” said one protester in Tel Aviv, Efrat Machikawa, niece of hostage Gadi Moses….
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Sep 7, 2024 – ISW Press
The IDF Air Force (IAF) conducted three airstrikes targeting Hamas command and control centers in Gaza City and Deir al Balah since CTP-ISW’s last data cut off on September 6