“We’re on the brink of a proposal that I laid out months ago finally coming to fruition,” Joe Biden said in a valedictory speech Monday night.
Israeli officials briefed newspapers that Donald Trump’s incoming envoy to the Middle East, Steven Withkoff, has applied pressure to prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the compromises necessary to secure a deal.
Trump also applied pressure to Hamas and its allies by threatening there would be “hell to pay” if Israeli hostages were not returned by his inauguration on 20 January.
The northern Gaza Strip after another round of Israeli strikes, on Tuesday (Photo: Jack Guez/AFP)Qatari mediators, asked what had changed to make a deal possible, pointed to the influence of Trump officials.
“It could be that we are the first to pay a price for Trump,” said Israeli journalist and Netanyahu ally Erel Segal, adding that he expected the new president to allow Israel to retain control of north Gaza and restrict humanitarian aid.
A Palestinian man carries an injured girl after an Israeli strike in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza on 14 January (Photo: Eyad Baba/AFP)There may yet be sweeteners for the Israeli right and poison pills for the Palestinians. The Trump administration could reportedly green-light new Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank – illegal under international law – or even full annexation of the territory, as a form of compensation.
That the final terms are so close to those of draft agreements in May is a bitter pill for Palestinians to swallow, as the thousands of deaths in Gaza since might have been prevented. Many Palestinian analysts place the blame squarely at the feet of Biden.
An Israeli protester in Jerusalem holds a banner as families and supporters of hostages held by Hamas called for a deal to secure their release (Photo; Ammar Awad/Reuters)Biden and Blinken backed Netanyahu’s conditions that were designed to sabotage talks and were opposed by Israeli military chiefs, he added, such as retaining a permanent presence across almost one-third of Gaza.
Gaza ceasefire deal 'closer than ever' after 'breakthrough' in Doha
Read MorePalestinians have reasons to fear the new Trump administration, featuring a cabinet stacked with pro-Israel hawks, many avowed supporters of Israel’s settlement enterprise.
Shehada said he has heard from several well-connected sources of one particular Trump ambition for his second term. “They are all saying that he genuinely wants a Nobel Peace Prize,” he said.
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