Leaders of US, Egypt and Qatar plan for last-ditch peace bid

The countries say they are prepared to offer a proposal to bridge the differences between Israel and Hamas.

Palestinians leaving the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Thursday after an evacuation order from Israel’s military. Picture: AFP

US President Joe Biden and his counterparts in Egypt and Qatar are preparing to make a last-ditch proposal to bridge the differences between Israel and Hamas if it is needed to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza and ensure the release of Hamas’s hostage.

Israel agreed to resume talks next Thursday at the demand of US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, as regional tensions skyrocket over the war.

“Following the proposal of the United States and mediators, Israel will on August 15 send a delegation of negotiators to the agreed place to conclude the details of implementing a deal,” the office said in a statement.

The three countries, which have been trying to mediate a deal for months, said in a joint statement they were ready to present a “final bridging proposal” to overcome the remaining obstacles to a ceasefire agreement if Israel and Hamas fail to make headway in next week’s talks, which are to be held in either Cairo or Doha.

“There is no further time to waste nor excuses from any party for further delay,” said the statement, which was issued by Mr Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Emir Sheik Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.

“It is time to release the hos­tages, begin the cease fire, and ­implement this agreement.” Officials didn’t provide details of the proposal that the three leaders said could resolve “remaining ­implementation issues in a manner that meets the expectations of all parties”.

The push for a ceasefire has been snagged for months and may be set back further if Iran mounts a major attack on Israel in retaliation for the killing of a senior Hamas leader last month in Tehran, which the Iranians have blamed on the Israelis.

Dennis Ross, who has served as a senior official on Middle East issues in Democratic and Republican administrations, said the three-nation call for the talks is likely to have followed consultations between the US and Israel as well as parallel talks between Egyptian and Qatari officials and Hamas.

“One reason I am hopeful about it is that I think the bridging proposal probably does reflect those parallel consultations,” Mr Ross said. “But we have seen some hopeful developments before that have not materialised.”

Other experts on the Middle East say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar might have their own reasons to hold back from a deal but are also under pressure to agree to a ceasefire.

The Hamas leader has ­observed that the high casualty toll in Gaza has worked to the group’s advantage by turning much of international opinion against Israel.

Yet many of Hamas’s fighters are also eager for a respite from the Israeli military’s attacks, Middle East experts say.

Mr Netanyahu might be calculating that the US presidential election could lead to a Republican administration that is more supportive of his policy goals.

Yet the Israeli military has also been stressed by the months of fighting in Gaza and faces new security challenges on its northern frontier with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, where tensions have escalated.

“Netanyahu and Sinwar both have reasons to think that holding out on a deal will better support their political objectives,” said Jonathan Panikoff, a former senior US intelligence officer who is at the Atlantic Council think tank.

“But they also are facing pressure from domestic constituencies, which combined with US and Arab state pressure, could ­finally be enough to reach at least a temporary ceasefire.”

A senior Biden administration official cautioned that a significant amount of work remains to overcome complicated issues ­between Israel and Hamas on how the agreement would be implemented.

“We believe there is enough trade-space,” said the official. “Having a proposal that’s unified between the three mediators can be quite powerful. ”

The Wall Street Journal