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Netanyahu Won't Hand Hamas an Easy Victory

(Spectator-UK) Jonathan Spyer - Negotiations for an end to the war in Gaza are floundering on substantive gaps between the two sides, reflecting their diametrically opposed goals for the outcome of the war. Hamas wants a deal which it can (plausibly) portray as a victory, one that includes a total withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, an Israeli commitment to a permanent ceasefire, and an absence of any clear commitment regarding future political arrangements and governance, enabling the restoration and rebuilding of Hamas authority. The achievement of these core demands would be accompanied by the release of thousands of Palestinian terrorists from Israeli jails in return for Israeli hostages. The individuals released would include people with the blood of many Israeli civilians on their hands and would be presented as paving the way for the next phase of the struggle against Israel. Should Israel accept such a deal, it would have failed to have achieved its core stated goal of dismantling Hamas authority in Gaza. More fundamentally, Hamas would have proved the basic point of its Oct. 7 attack, that to achieve strategic goals against Israel, it is necessary to strike directly at the civilian population by taking, holding, and subsequently negotiating the release of civilian hostages. For both Israel and Hamas, the differences in their core demands constitute the gap between victory and defeat.
2024-08-22 00:00:00
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