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Gazan Negotiations are a Waste of Time
Everyone has an agenda for continuing negotiations in Gaza—and they are all fruitless attempts to persuade all parties that their efforts are worthwhile. It’s become increasingly apparent that the negotiations border on the ludicrous, as lies, deceit, and manipulation become the strategies of the day.
And all the parties—Israel, Hamas, the U.S., Egypt and Qatar–are complicit.
Take a look at the motivations of Hamas. They have been clear from before the Gazan War began: destroy Israel and kill all the Jews. There is nothing that they have said or done that would change those goals. Unless you want to include their current goal of stopping the Israelis from fighting them—which will allow them to accomplish their original goals.
Hamas has proven to be duplicitous from the beginning of the negotiations. The latest agreement was absurd. News organizations are publishing an incomplete report on what happened, but based on the recent Commentary podcast, Bill Burns, CIA director, thought he would negotiate a deal with Hamas without Israel participating, possibly hoping that Israel would go along when presented the plan. (Why he thought that was a possibility demonstrates his ineptness). When Israel finally learned of the “agreement,” they refused to accept it. For one, the terms presented were completely different than previous agreements (with Hamas designing them to their liking); even more bizarre was that they agreed to release 33 hostages—dead or alive.
Hamas’ approach to these negotiations is naïve and manipulative. They make clear, over and over again, that they are not interested in a reasonable cease fire, but only want to stop the war–permanently. They are probably confident that they will be successful due to the collusion of Bill Burns, who apparently thinks he can trick Israel into making a decision that would serve them badly.
If we try to look at Hamas through their actions, rather than through a civilized Western lens, we begin to realize that negotiating with them cannot end well. Their motivations, as stated earlier, are singularly focused. They aren’t interested in being a reliable governor of Gaza (demonstrated by their previous inept governance of the strip). Funds that should have been used to serve the Palestinians were used to build tunnels and acquire armaments. They embrace martyrdom, and don’t care whether they live or die—and that includes Palestinian civilians. They are brutal, primitive and dangerous to their own people and the people of Israel.
Unlike Hamas (and the questionable U.S. delegation), Israel has been consistent: they must destroy Hamas; they cannot agree to an extended cease fire; and they still hope to have hostages released. At this stage of the conflict, I believe it’s highly unlikely that hostages will be found alive. And even though the U.S. keeps changing its expectations for Israel moving forward with Rafah, Israel tries to comply: they have made an evacuation plan and notified Palestinians of it, have created places for Palestinians to reside, have arranged for aid to be delivered (if Hamas does not steal all of it), and are currently making targeted attacks.
Still, I think the veneer of “negotiations” should continue. Hamas and Israel can pretend that they are trying to reach an agreement; the U.S. can keep insisting that they are not far apart; Egypt and Qatar (who supports Hamas) can state that they are determined to reach an understanding. These actions of peace-seeking will comfort the families and friends of the hostages; the Palestinian people will keep hoping that the war is almost over. And Bill Burns can continue to schlepp back and forth to Qatar or Egypt to reassure Joe Biden.
But for the U.S., it will never be enough.
They want the war over by election time.
Nothing else matters.
Published in Foreign Policy
I am beyond disgusted with Biden, et al. I don’t think he will be pResident in 2025, but if anyone on his “team” is, we are in deep deep trouble.
The man is unable to present a consistent message about his expectations. I think Netanyahu’s best strategy is to politely ignore him.
It’s ridiculous that Israel is being squeezed between a rock and a hard place. Our current elected and non-elected government wishes to befriend the people and governments in Iran and Iran’s proxies such as Hamas (and Hezbollah would suddenly be respected if the war with them and Israel got hot) all of whom hate the United States and all Christians and Jews. Yet Israel, our real true ally, must beg and plead and constantly watch out for knives in her back from us while in the midst of an existential conflict. Watching the ugliness of antisemitism erupt in the USA, not to mention other Western countries, is a giant reminder of how untrustworthy the left is in all they do. The Jews who have until recently regarded these same leftists as their political kin must wake to the reality of always being the first people abandoned to the ovens by those they thought were their friends.
I know some of them are waking up, but will most of them see the truth? I just don’t know, cdor.
Most Jews will find some way to rationalize/compartmentalize this hatred perpetrated by those same people who have been the recipients of their sympathies. I am amongst the 30% that “sees the truth”. Just growing that to 50% will be helpful. It is my understanding, however, that in Israel, no matter your political leaning there is unity of will to destroy Hamas.
That’s my understanding, too. One of the few things they seem to be able to unify about!
Missiles exploding in your neighborhood are much more clarifying and persuasive than anti-Semitic protests on a campus far away.
The history of Jews in the 20th century consists of being serially betrayed by people who they help or who claim to be helping them.
Can’t argue with that.
The poison pill for any deal with HamASS is the elimination of Israel . . .
The problem with the entire history of negotiations with Palestinian leaders is that because they have promoted a movement that calls for eternal war and even martyrdom they cannot then be seen to accept the legitimacy of Israel in any form. Arafat used to say one thing in English and another in Arabic but pervasive media has largely killed that trick.
The real problem is that US diplomats want a deal, any deal so long as there is a signing ceremony, grip-and-grin photos, and a resume item. John Kerry surrendered to Iran just to get that. We shelled out tons of money to Arafat for pointless diplomatic activities. He kept most of it–when he died, the PLO had to negotiate with his widow for access to PLO assets in Swiss and French banks. Mrs. Arafat got to keep her Paris condo and her lifestyle in exchange for yielding the balance.
In that same proud tradition of looting, the self-exiled leaders of Hamas have billions stashed. It might be easier to get a cease-fire or even a token acknowledgment of Israel’s right to exist than to make the thieves restore that wealth to the people of Gaza.
Hamas needs a deal more than does Israel. It is up to them to make significant concessions just to get entre to the bargaining table.
Your comments are spot on. Although I doubt even the wealth would convince them to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist. They have a reputation to maintain . . . thanks, OB
I teach negotiation. (Shameless plug: Check out our podcast at Station 4 Negotiation, available on all major platforms.) I agree with the late Gov. Bill Richardson that it never hurts to talk. Except here. You are absolutely correct. Radical “Islamists” only seek to “negotiate” when they’re getting their rear ends handed to them and need time to regroup and re-arm. That’s been pretty clear throughout history. Here their goal coincides with that of the administration, which just wants the war to go away until after November. This is more evidence that part of the problem with the polarization of American politics is that each “side” is willing to make deals with the devil to stay in power.
I used to teach negotiation, too, Gene. It’s great fun to empower people and give them tools for success. But I think the best negotiations are respectful to the other party. At least, that’s how I like to operate.
It is very difficult to negotiate with an entity sworn to destroy you. Hamas is part of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization whose most cherished book teaches them to lie to the infidel. Being a proud infidel myself, I wouldn’t make an agreement with people who follow these beliefs.
I hope I’m wrong, but I suspect that a number of the hostages have lost their lives. There will be no honest negotiations with the Hamas-holes whether it is in Gaza or in US colleges and universities. You cannot meet the constant changes in demands that are designed to prevent any resolution that will lead to an end to the conflict on the battlefield much less the constant disruption on campuses and streets in American cities.
Who would have thought that a former Vice-President whose boss empowered Iran, would have gone on to empower Iran’s proxy? God help us if Biden is re-elected.
As long as it doesn’t mean letting up on the use of weapons to keep their part of the conversation going.
I’m not that knowledgeable about this type of thing, so keep that in mind. I don’t see why they aren’t better off just assuming they are dead. Anybody that is alive is going to be killed when they get close to the Hamas leadership. They aren’t going to get anybody back with negotiations at this point. Just drop the appropriate mix of fuel-air explosives and bunker busters and get it over with.`
Should the Russians have stopped being ever so mean to Germany, stopped at the outskirts of Berlin, and given Adolf a ceasefire and a chance to escape and join his bros in Argentina or Paraguay? The Russkis clearly overreacted to 20 or 30 million dead and simply ignored Nazi Germany’s territorial and material needs. Maybe if Hitler has taken some hostages into the bunker… Funny that Goebbels never came up with a catchy phrase like From the North Sea to the Volga…
This seems to be how Trump was getting things done over there. His administration tried talking to Palestine, but when they were their usual disagreeable sorts, the administration ignored them and started talking with other countries in the region. Progress was being made.
It’s as if many of our politicians want problems to fester.
Why wouldn’t they? Somehow that will make the Israelis look bad.
Bureaucrats want problems to never be solved because solved problems mean fewer jobs for bureaucrats. Politicians have other, more malevolent reasons.
In the above comment, I carelessly failed to note that we now have many bureaucrats with malevolent ideological agendas.
No worries. I made that assumption.
Not just Lina Khan, either.
I’ve been indecisive about sharing my perspective on this, but I can say that I agree with yours in terms of the motives, reliability of the “words” of each party, and what a complete embarrassment, for the umpteenth time, the B admin has been.
The degree to which the false narrative has taken hold in this country only proves how effective the indoctrinating propaganda machine has become. There are very few clear-eyed and truth respecting leaders with the courage to stand for what is right without getting sucked into those dastardly attempts of defining moral equivalents between good and evil, seeking true justice and exacting revenge, etc. I have a quote on my board that says, “Tyranny is the deliberate removal of nuance,” which today means something like “Do not engage.”
As for Bill Burns, he is like every other arrogant Obama wannabe who thinks that a word salad of abstractions every time and all the time will keep people in behavioral check, not to mention the selfishly motivated use of blackmail that withholds previously promised support just to gain a few more votes. Not to mention the disregard of the destruction they are wreaking on our country and the world just to keep the money flowing behind the scenes.
All so very true!