The CIA Director discusses with officials from Israel and Qatar a new prisoner deal
Senior US intelligence officials and Defense Department officials began a new tour in Poland to revive talks to conclude a deal to release hostages held by the Hamas movement, as Director of Central Intelligence William Burns met with Israeli Intelligence Director David Barnea and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in the capital. Polish Warsaw, on Monday, in the latest move to discuss a deal to release the hostages, while US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff James Brown are holding discussions with the war government in Israel, which American officials described as the most difficult.
CIA Director William Burns (archive)
The Director of US Intelligence is responsible for this important file, and he traveled twice to Doha, last month, to meet with his Israeli counterpart and senior Qatari officials. These discussions and negotiations led to a deal to release more than 100 hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons and to stop the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip, but the ceasefire truce that lasted for a week at the beginning of this month collapsed, and each side blamed the other for its collapse.
The White House blamed the Hamas movement for the cessation of previous talks regarding the release of the remaining women detained by the movement, and White House strategic communications official John Kirby stressed that the collapse of the talks was due to the Hamas movement’s intransigence in releasing the detained women, and stressed the The Biden administration is working around the clock to reach a deal to release more hostages. Israeli reports indicate that there are 129 hostages still being held by Hamas, and the US administration believes that there are 8 Americans among the hostages held by Hamas, and they are 7 men and one woman.
Hamas demands
The incident of Israeli forces killing 3 hostages who were being held by Hamas last Friday (and they were raising the white flag) increased momentum to accelerate efforts in talks on the hostage release deal. This incident led to widespread anger in Israel and increased demands to prioritize the release of hostages at the expense of military operations.
Sources indicated to the Wall Street Journal that among the ideas exchanged between the negotiating parties was for Hamas to release women, the elderly, civilians, and at least 6 Israeli soldiers who were taken hostage in the attack on October 7, in exchange for the release of some prisoners. Prominent Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
Marwan Barghouti, one of the most famous Palestinian prisoners serving a life sentence (archive)
The Hamas movement sets conditions related to its right to determine the list of hostages to be released, and requests that Israel release large numbers of Palestinians who have been detained in Israeli prisons for many years, including Marwan Barghouti, a leader in the Fatah movement, who is serving sentences. Life imprisonment for the murder of Israelis in 2016, in addition to increasing humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza.
The sources described the ongoing talks as difficult and more complex than previous rounds, but Israel and the Egyptian and Qatari mediators are applying all their influence on Hamas to reach a new agreement. The sources familiar with the talks explained that what complicates the talks is the fact that Hamas is not sure of the number of living hostages it has and the number of hostages it can collect from the Gaza Strip to hand them over to Israel in any future agreement.
The negotiations face another complication related to the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, who Israeli officials believe is hiding in tunnels under his hometown of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, and they want to continue military operations to arrest him.
According to Egyptian officials, Israeli Intelligence Director David Barnea met last Saturday with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Oslo to discuss resuming hostage talks. During the meeting, Barnea said that Israel was open to increasing aid to Gaza, and to the idea of Hamas identifying names on the list, but Israel would have to first review the names and the timeline for any release.
Barnea also said that Israel is willing to consider releasing long-held Palestinian prisoners, including those convicted of killing Israelis, but will not agree to a ceasefire before negotiations begin.
Demonstrators raise pictures of hostages held by Hamas (Reuters)
Requirements
The Hamas movement showed some flexibility in the talks about the hostages, but it stipulated an immediate and complete cessation of military operations. Osama Hamdan, a Hamas leader, said in a press conference on Monday that the movement had informed the Qatari and Egyptian mediators that it would not accept talks to release the hostages unless… Israel did not stop the war and declare a complete ceasefire and withdraw its forces behind specific borders, while Israeli army spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari announced, on Sunday evening, that Hamas’ demands for a complete ceasefire will not deter the Israeli army from its war goal of dismantling Hamas. » Completely.
Qatar and Egypt, which had previously pressured Israel to open the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza to aid trucks as a precondition for resuming talks, proposed to Hamas new ideas to try to release more women and children hostages, and the crossing has already been opened. On Sunday, aid trucks entered for the first time since the beginning of the war.
The sources indicate that Hamas is seeking to reach an agreement that would put a permanent end to the war and allow it to declare victory. On the other hand, Israel wants a deal that brings temporary relief and calms anger on the Israeli street, but it plans to resume the war and resume its persecution of the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip.
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2023-12-20 09:05:40
