A Qatari source said Sunday that in meetings held last week in Doha and Washington, Qatari officials demanded binding guarantees from Israel to uphold the outcomes of ceasefire negotiations. According to the source, who spoke with the Palestinian website Quds Press, Doha specifically asked Washington to guarantee that Israel would not attempt further strikes on Qatari soil.
However, the source added that the Americans only offered verbal assurances, which Qatar rejected as insufficient. He claimed that Washington's main interest was to give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu more time to press ahead with the ground invasion of Gaza and to implement his plan to push Palestinians southward into Khan Younis and Rafah, a plan Qatar strongly opposes.
Earlier Sunday, Qatar's Al-Araby television channel reported, citing its own sources, that an Israeli apology for the attempted strike on senior Hamas terrorists in Doha would be "the bare minimum."
According to those sources, such an apology "would not mean that Doha is resuming mediation efforts." They added that another Qatari condition was "a commitment not to repeat aggression in Doha," which also would not necessarily restore Qatar's role as mediator in hostage and ceasefire negotiations.
Last week, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said, "At the moment, negotiations over a hostage deal and a ceasefire are not realistic."
