A few hours after Operation Guardian of Walls began, reports and updates surfaced that indirect ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas through mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the UN envoy to the region had already begun.
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Based on past experience from previous rounds of fighting, the assumption was that neither Israel, and certainly not Hamas, were interested in a military escalation that would lead to war, as was the case in Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
The political chaos in Israel and the fact that Hamas wants to continue the understandings process in the Gaza Strip – against the backdrop of the calm on the southern border and the transfer of tens of millions of dollars from Qatar to needy families and the development of civilian employment projects in the Gaza Strip – reinforced the notion that the vigorous activity of the mediators from Egypt and Qatar would lead to the familiar outline of "calm will be met with calm".
Hamas, however, drew much encouragement from various PR wins such as shooting at Jerusalem and the violent clashes that broke out – first at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, which then spilled into mutual violence between Arabs and Jews in Arab and mixed cities in Israel.
In light of this, Hamas has set a number of conditions for mediators that Israel is not prepared to discuss at all, including the cessation of Israeli involvement and entry of security forces into the Temple Mount, and the cancellation of evacuation orders for Palestinian families from Jewish-owned homes in Sheikh Jarrah.
On the other hand, the request of Hamas and the Palestinian factions for a "humanitarian" ceasefire for several hours, also as a confidence-building measure towards a future ceasefire agreement, was also rejected by Israel.
The message conveyed to the mediators was that Hamas should take humanitarian steps on its part, such as the return of the bodies of the fallen soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, as well as information about the fate of Israeli citizens Avera Mengistu and Hisham a-Sayed who crossed the border into Gaza and were captured by Hamas.
Hamas, of course, rejected the offer and made it clear to mediators that the organization had completely rejected the offer, and that the bodies of the dead would be returned only as part of a prisoner exchange deal.
In the interim, the number of mediators increased significantly when representatives from Egypt and Qatar were joined by the UN envoy to the Middle East, Tor Wennesland, and President Biden's envoy, Deputy State Secretary for Israel and the Palestinians, Hady Amr.
If that was not enough, French President Emmanuel Macron also begun formulating a French-European initiative for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas earlier in the week.
Thus, despite the good will of all parties involved to bring about a ceasefire, calm, peace and civil and personal security in our districts, even the Hamas leadership admits that the multiplicity of mediators and differing opinions regarding the ideal ceasefire outline only precludes the possibility of a deal within a reasonable time. Thus, the assumption that a ceasefire is right around the corner and that with a little more effort, a "hudna" can be reached for peace and quiet in Israel and the Gaza Strip, is completely mistaken.
This is especially so when the momentum is on the side of Israel, which still has relative backing internationally and from the US, while on the other hand Hamas sees the debate and controversy between right and left in Israel regarding the purpose of Operation Guardian of Walls and its goals, and whether they have been achieved so far or not.
Finally, as long as a ceasefire is not seen in the immediate term, one can perhaps take solace in the fact that the intense mediation efforts for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has led to surprising cooperation and synchronization between Egypt and Qatar who in the past competed for mediation efforts between Israel, Hamas and the Palestinian factions. The two recently signed a reconciliation agreement that also included Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, which lifted the boycott over Qatar.
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