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.