The US Secretary of State has arrived in Tel Aviv,
where he's expected to discuss the terms of a potential
deal between Israel and Hamas to end the war on
Gaza.
Anthony Blinken says that he wants to broker an extended
pause to the war in Gaza.
He's on his latest visit to the Middle East,
where he's been meeting with leaders across the region.
Blinken has also held talks in
Qatar's capital, Doha, and the Qatari foreign minister says that
he's optimistic that an agreement is within reach.
Asha Mahalbara reports. Good morning,
Secretary, How are you,
Sir? It's been a week that Hamas received a proposal.
Qatar, the key mediator, hopes,
could lead to a new deal that may end the
war in Gaza,
free Israeli captives and allow more aid into the Strip.
Qatar's Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs
is confident an agreement is within reach.
We have received a reply from Hamas on the general
framework of the agreement regarding the captives.
The reply includes some comments,
but in general it is positive.
However, given the sensitivity of the issue,
we will not go into details.
We are optimistic and we have delivered the response to
the Israeli party.
Nice to see you. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken
remains cautious
who we have to convince these rallies to accept Hamas's
terms,
but the US official refrained from talking about a ceasefire,
referring instead to oppose. We're also determined to use any
pause to continue to pave a diplomatic path forward
to a just and lasting peace
and security for the region.
That is the best way,
the best way, to ensure that
October 7th and the tragic loss of life by Israelis
and Palestinians
is not repeated. Hamas, which controls Gaza,
says it has responded positively
to the negotiators, Qatar and Egypt,
but insists the deal must result in a permanent ceasefire.
The proposal for a possible agreement was presented to the
leader of Hamas's political Bureau,
Isbail Haniyan Doha. But it's the group's leader in Gaza,
Yahya Sinwa, along with Al Qassam Brigades commander Mohammad Baif,
who have the ultimate say
over any possible deal.
By pushing for an agreement on Gaza,
the US officials are keeping their eyes on the broader
goal,
convincing Saudi Arabia, the most powerful country in the region,
to establish ties with Israel.
The Crown Prince reiterated Saudi Arabia's strong interest in pursuing
that,
but he also made clear what he had said
to me before, which is that in order to do
that,
two things are required,
an end to the conflict in Gaza
and a clear, credible time bound path
to the establishment of the Palestinian state.
But many remains skeptical. They accused the US of siding
with Israel.
Iran and its allies warn if the war in Gaza
continues,
the Middle East risks being marred by instability.
Hashim Albal, Al Jazeera.
All right, let's bring in Rory Challenge joining us from
occupied E Jerusalem to tell us what the next few
hours will look like for Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
Well, he's got a a lot of diplomacy ahead of
him.
First of all, he's gonna be meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu,
then he's gonna be meeting with the Israeli military chief
of staff,
Hertzi Halevi. Then he's gonna be meeting with the defence
minister you have Gallant.
And after that he's going to be meeting with the
presidents,
Itzhak Herzog. Following that, he's then going to Ramallah,
to the occupied West Bank,
and he's going to be be meeting with the Palestinian
president,
Mahmoud Abbas. So a lot on his plate.
What he will be discussing
along the way is the
Paris agreement, this deal, and more specifically what
Hamas's response to that deal has been,
and he'll be trying to get
a read from the Israelis about whether this is acceptable
in any way to them.
Now we know that this Hamas response has been passed
through the categories to the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad,
and that it's being studied by the negotiators.
What we don't know is,
is what is in that response.
The Israelis know it, the Qataris know it,
the Americans know it. We don't.
But we have, and I'll reiterate what Hashim was saying
in his report there.
What we do know is Hamas main
demand essentially is that any ceasefire agreement ultimately will result
in the end of the war
and the end of Israel's
siege of Gaza. Now the categories are optimistic that this
deal is,
but you know something that that can be worked with
the Americans slightly less. So
if you hear Blinken, he's saying that a deal is
necessary and possible.
Biden is saying that he thinks that Hamas's response is
slightly over the top.
And if you look at the Israelis and what the
Israelis are saying,
well, they are significantly more negative than that
and they think that this deal at the moment is
a non starter.
Why is that? Rory, talk to us a little bit
more about the Israeli response to any potential deal.
Well, basically because you have this huge gulf between the
Hamas position and the Israeli position.
The Hamas position is that the war will end with
the culmination of the ceasefires and the exchange deals.
And the Israeli side of things is to say no
way like the war for Netanyahu,
goes on until Israel has achieved its war goals.
And let's remind ourselves of what those war goals were,
the eradication of Hamas as a military threat to Israel,
basically to kick his Hamas out of Gaza
or to degrade them so much so that they cannot
ever result in a threat ever again.
So, you know, you can see that there is huge
gulf, a huge gap between those two positions.
And Netanyahu and his government,
his coalition government are pretty unified on that.
The Israeli military is pretty unified on this.
So politically and militarily in Israel you have,
although there are many differences about many,
many different things, you certainly do have agreement that the
war will not finish with these these cease fires.
So that's where we are and that's where the Americans
are going to try and bring two sides together and
get them to some kind of agreement that that they
think is going to reorder the Middle East
and give, say, the Saudi Israeli normalization deal a chance
of getting back on track.
Again, as we heard in Hashem's package there his report,
the Saudis are saying, well,
this is contingent on A2 state solution,
it's contingent on a Palestinian state.
And again, that is something that Benjamin Netanyahu for most
of his political career
has been actively trying to prevent happening.
All right, Thank you, Rory.
Challenge reporting from occupied E Jerusalem.
We'll now cross over to West Jerusalem and speak to
Menachem Klein,
who's a professor of political science at Berlin University.
Welcome to Al Jazeera. Thanks for your time.
So as Blinken now has arrived in Tel Aviv,
what will you be looking out for as he takes
up
this issue of a potential deal
with the with the Israelis?
Good morning.
It it depends on how
far assertive Blinken will be
and which kind of stick he will use on Netanyahu.
Definitely. There is a huge gap between the Biden administration
and the Israeli government.
Netanyahu is unwilling to end the war
and is unwilling is far,
far from being on the same page with Biden administration
regarding the establishment of a Palestinian state.
And they also there are thoughts in the Israeli administration
to expand the war
N wise against Hezbollah sometime in the spring.
So all these issues are combined all together
and Netanyahu
Yes. Yeah. So look, I mean you said it depends
which stick Blinken is willing to use.
Is he willing to use any sort of leverage at
this point?
Or I mean talk us through the options on the
table for the US administration on how to deal with
Netanyahu and his coalition government
today as it's as the war stands today.
Regarding the war on Gaza,
the Biden administration can express publicly not through Thomas Friedman.
It's it stands and blame Netanyahu for
sabotaging and the the American
effort to help Israel. He can make it
at the moment he choose to send messages through Thomas
Friedman in the New York in the New York Times.
Biden is Biden. Interest is not to lose the elections
against
Trump. At the moment he it seems that he's about
to lose,
so the his
his interest is to actually to use the stick
and to beat Netanyahu. Netanyahu interest is to play on
time,
to mislead by then to promise something and then regret.
To go for a partial deal and wait for Trump
win the elections.
Netanyahu does not want to dissolve the government.
Netanyahu does not want to make a deal,
a prisoners exchange that will force the radical right wing
parties
to leave the coalition and then impose on Netanyahu early
elections in which it seems from public opinion polls that
he's going to lose.
Right. So what you're saying is Netanyahu.
It's very possible that Netanyahu stalls for simply for his
own political survival.
Definitely. And. And it seems that
the American administration prefers to see somebody else in Prime
Minister office in Jerusalem.
What are you basing that on?
It it it seems to me that this is the
this is the American preference through the messages coming out
from the
White House through Thomas Friedman and then talk of the
White House about a two state solution and the
Saudis normalizing its its relation with Israel depends on
the establishment of a Palestinian state or a clear commitment
of the Israeli government
to to this goal of a Palestinian state.
Just just very briefly, do do you know,
I mean you say that the American administration would want
to see someone else in that position
who
I I assume that they they prefer a central,
central life candidate like guns
who is the was the leading person in Israeli public
opinion polls.
OK, thank you. Manafim Klein,
thank you for joining us from West Jerusalem.
Thank you.