The sides in the conflict have NOT embraced any of the American President’s efforts…..
Trump is fronting ‘No Piecemeal Deals’….
Hamas is being told to give up its guns…
They say they would…
BUT?
Hamas and Palestinians WANT a State ….
Something Netanyahu has Sworn he would NEVER accept….
Hmmm?
White House envoy Steve Witkoff told hostage families on Saturday that President Trump wants to “shift” the Gaza policy from trying to get a partial and phased Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal to reaching a comprehensive deal that ends the war and returns all remaining hostages at once, according to a statement by the families and recordings from the meeting.
Why it matters: Witkoff’s remarks, during a two-hour meeting in Tel Aviv with dozens of families of hostages held by Hamas, were an acknowledgment that the approach Israel and the U.S. have pursued over the last six months to try and reach a partial and incremental ceasefire and hostage deal has failed.
Behind the scenes: Two members of the hostage families who were in the room said Witkoff listened for a long time to every family member who wanted to speak. “We never have these meetings with senior Israeli government officials,” one family member said.
- Witkoff told the families he doesn’t have “perfect news” for them but stressed he believes “we are going to be successful here ultimately” for reasons he said he can’t discuss at the moment.
- “President Trump now believes that everybody ought to come home at once – no piecemeal deals. That doesn’t work,” Witkoff said.
- “Now we have to get all the 20 [live hostages] at the same time… we think that we have to shift this negotiation to all or nothing so that everybody comes home. We think it is going to be successful and we have a plan around it.”
Catch up quick: Trump and Witkoff had a big role in closing a ceasefire and hostage deal in January, days before the inauguration.
- That deal led to the release of 33 hostages, but was supposed to open negotiations on a comprehensive deal to end the war and release all remaining hostages.
- But the Trump administration allowed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to violate that deal by not negotiating seriously on its next phase. Israel resumed the war unilaterally in March.
Since then, Netanyahu preferred to try and get a partial and incremental ceasefire and hostage deal. He did that for domestic political reasons, so as not to have to commit to ending the war….
…
The big picture: Witkoff told the families on Saturday that any deal for ending the war in Gaza will have to include Hamas demilitarizing.
- “Hamas has said it is prepared to demilitarize. But even over and above that, multiple Arab governments are now demanding that Hamas demilitarizes. So we are very very close to a solution around this war,” he said.
- Hamas responded to Witkoff’s comment that were published in the Israeli press and stressed it will not disarm before the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital….
Note….
A agreement and follow thru on the above would be serious LOSS to the Netanyahu Poliices and Goals for the past two years….
Update….
Hamas has reaffirmed that it will not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established, as the group released its second video in two days of an Israeli hostage.
Responding to one of the key Israeli demands to end the war in Gaza, Hamas– which has dominated the territory since 2007 – said it could not yield its right to “armed resistance” unless an “independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital” is established.
Indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel aimed at securing a 60-day ceasefire in the Gaza war and deal for the release of hostages ended last week in deadlock.
On Saturday, Hamas released a second video of hostage Evyatar David. In it, David is skeletally thin and is shown digging a hole, which, he says in the video, is for his own grave.
Israeli restrictions on the entry of goods and aid into Gaza have led to severe shortages of food and other essentials, stoking international demands for a ceasefire. UN-backed food security experts said this week that the “worst-case scenario of famine” is now playing out in Gaza….