UPDATE: Tuesday, Jun 11, 2024 · 7:25:04 PM +00:00
·
Irontortoise
This is a hopeful sign, from Reuters:
Hamas says it accepts UN-backed Gaza truce plan
TEL AVIV/CAIRO, June 11 (Reuters) - Hamas accepts a U.N. resolution backing a plan to end the war with Israel in Gaza and is ready to negotiate details, a senior official of the Palestinian militant group said on Tuesday in what the U.S. Secretary of State called a hopeful sign.
Qatari and Egyptian mediators said they had received a formal reply from Hamas to the U.N.-backed truce proposal, and Hamas and its ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad expressed "readiness to positively" reach a deal to end the war in Gaza in a joint statement on Tuesday.
Now the question is whether Israel will actually accept its “own” proposal...
From CNN tonight, the UN Security Council actually passed Biden’s peace plan for Gaza on a 14-0 vote, with only Russia abstaining — the first time the council has endorsed such a plan to end the war, with even China voting aye! Biden’s high-wire act continues:
The United States ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said on Monday the US would guarantee Israel follows through with its obligations, while Egypt and Qatar would do the same with Hamas.
“The fighting could stop today,” if Hamas agreed to the deal, she said.
This could be huge, since a US “guarantee” that Israel would follow through on its obligations to end the war in Gaza under the terms of the 3-phase peace plan was obviously critical to getting the essentially unanimous agreement of the entire UNSC. OTOH, even though the US is still presenting and/or pretending this is an Israeli initiative:
Israel on Monday vowed to persist with its military operation in Gaza, saying it won’t engage in “meaningless” negotiations with Hamas, shortly after the United Nations Security Council overwhelmingly approved a US-drafted ceasefire plan intended to bring an end to the eight-month war.
Israel’s representative to the UN, senior diplomat Reut Shapir Ben-Naftaly, emphasized at a UNSC meeting that her country wants to “ensure that Gaza doesn’t pose a threat to Israel in the future.”
She said the war would not end until all hostages were returned and Hamas’ capabilities were “dismantled,” accusing the Palestinian militant group of using “endless negotiations … as a means to stall for time.”
It will certainly be interesting to see just how the US hopes to “guarantee” Israeli compliance. Meanwhile:
Hamas welcomed the adoption of the resolution, saying in a statement it was ready to engage with mediators to implement measures such as the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, prisoner exchange, returning residents to their homes and the “rejection of any demographic change or reduction in the area of the Gaza Strip.”
The resolution says Israel has accepted the plan, and US officials have repeatedly emphasized Israel had agreed to the proposal – despite public comments from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that suggest otherwise.
Likewise, it’s not clear how Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz’s belated withdrawal from Netanyahu’s war cabinet yesterday may affect things:
After the resolution was adopted, Blinken spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, where he “commended Israel’s readiness to conclude a deal and affirmed that the onus is on Hamas to accept,” according to a readout of their meeting.
Blinken arrived in Israel on Monday, following the resignation of Benny Gantz from the Israeli war cabinet on Sunday. Gantz’s departure delivered a blow to Netanyahu, who is coming under increasing pressure from Western allies and families of hostages to end the war and bring back the captives.
