+Time: reason
Whether it's the U S Navy negotiating a destroyer contract with Ingalls, the UAW and GM negotiating a labor contract for staffing automobile factories, a school district negotiating teachers' salaries with the teachers' union, or the Allies negotiating an armistice with the Central Powers, negotiation requires power on both sides, and give and take; and there has to be some level of confidence, at least minimal trust between parties that each is negotiating from power, in good faith, and will abide by the agreement.
I'm thinking of May 1945 in Berlin when first General Krebs then General Weidling met with Soviet General Chulkov in desperate attempts to have some German influence in the war's outcome: the German position was powerless, hopeless, insubstantial, and Chulkov's message was, "General, if you were in my position, would you negotiate with me?" The Germans were left with the options of total unconditional surrender or continue futile resistance and be annihilated. Germany surrendered and WW2 in Europe ground to a halt. Not an armistice, but VE Day.
There is no trust or confidence between Israel and Hamas as each negotiates intransigently with the other, under duress, goaded on by third parties whose power, influence, and political desperation masquerading as humanitarian concern are destructive to the talks anyway. Hamas does not have to negotiate and will not negotiate while the US, Middle East and European governments are demanding that Israel ease off and negotiate an end to the fighting. Israel cannot negotiate an end to their war with an enemy whose relentless sole objective is not the wellbeing of its population but the destruction of Israel and Israel's permanent elimination from the world stage.
Comparing the condition of Gaza at this point with the condition of Berlin and other German population centers that Spring of 1945, nothing makes sense but for Hamas either to surrender or to seek an armistice of some sort. Hamas will not surrender, is guided not by reason but by hatred and hope that the US and other parties will force Israel to capitulate and leave Hamas in control of Gaza. It may be a first Time in histories of warfares that the side with the power to press on to victory is the side who gives up. If that happens, Israel will live on to regret it and to repeat this war. If Israel is to be a nation at some kind of peace, this is their test, and the cost.
Which side am I on? With deepest sadness for every innocent Palestinian child whose government failed them, I changed sides on October 7. Faced with Hamas, nothing makes sense but Israel's resolve. I regret Israel's vengeful fury, but I remember Pearl Harbor and our resolve, and I remember 9/11 and our fury.
Hamas claimed credit Sunday for a deadly rocket attack on the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Israel as cease-fire negotiations dragged on with no breakthrough in sight. The talks are viewed by some U.S. officials as the “last chance” to avoid a return to all-out war in Gaza.
Three soldiers were killed and others were wounded in the attack on Kerem Shalom, according to the Israel Defense Forces, and the crossing was closed for humanitarian aid. The IDF alleged that the rockets came from Rafah, the city in southern Gaza that is home to more than a million displaced Palestinians and, according to Israel, the last intact Hamas battalions.
Israel’s determination to invade Rafah, despite concerns from Washington and other allies, remains a key sticking point in cease-fire negotiations. Hamas insists that any hostage-release deal must include a permanent end to the war and a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the enclave.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of “holding up the release of our hostages” and said Israel was “ready for a pause in the fighting.” Israel “has shown a willingness for significant movement” in the talks, he said, and accused Hamas of holding on to “extreme positions.”
But many in Israel increasingly believe it is their prime minister who is standing in the way of a deal. Thousands of protesters flooded the streets of Tel Aviv and other cities Saturday night, calling for an immediate agreement to free the 132 hostages in Hamas captivity and a new round of elections to replace Netanyahu’s government — the most far right in Israel’s history.
With his public refusal to end the war, Netanyahu “is once again trying to torpedo the only chance there is now to save the abductees,” said Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan was dragged into Gaza with his girlfriend from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7.
On Sunday, a group of hostage families demonstrated outside the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem as the war cabinet convened. “Today, you need to demonstrate leadership and make difficult decisions, a courageous decision,” said Albert Ariev, the father of 19-year-old hostage Karina Ariev. “There are 132 families awaiting your verdict, and millions of citizens hoping for change.”
The current proposal, submitted to Hamas last week, includes an initial 40-day cease-fire, during which Israeli troops would suspend combat operations and withdraw from populated areas. At the same time, Hamas would begin releasing hostages in exchange for the freeing of Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
But Israel did not send a delegation to the negotiations in Cairo on Sunday, an Israeli official said, and Hamas officials returned from Cairo to their base in Qatar, which is under growing pressure from the United States to expel the group if it blocks the latest cease-fire proposal. CIA Director William J. Burns also traveled to Qatar on Sunday to prevent the talks from collapsing, according to an official briefed on the talks. Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.
Earlier, Hamas officials had expressed hope that a deal could be reached after months of fractious on-and-off negotiations, but they appeared unwilling to compromise on a definitive end to the fighting. “What does [a cease-fire] agreement mean if cease-fire is not the first of its results?” the group said in a statement.
Netanyahu reiterated last week that Israel will launch a military operation in Rafah regardless of whether a deal is reached, a line echoed by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday during a visit to central Gaza. “We recognize alarming signs that Hamas actually does not intend to follow any agreement with us,” he said. “This means action in Rafah and the entire Gaza Strip in the near future.”
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