Netanyahu is not interested in ceasefire deal: Israeli war chiefs
Occupied Palestine (Quds News Network)- Israeli war chiefs believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not interested in a ceasefire deal with Hamas, a senior member of the Israeli negotiating team told Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Friday.
Earlier on Friday, Israel’s Channel 12 reported on a tense exchange between Netanyahu and the war chiefs, in which Shin Bet head Ronen Bar said, “It feels like the prime minister doesn’t want the framework that’s on the table.” Turning to Netanyahu, he added that if that is the case, “you should tell us.”
“You know that all the parameters you’ve added [to the framework] will not be accepted and there will be no deal,” the head of the Missing and Captive Soldiers Division in the Israeli occupation forces, Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, was quoted in the report telling Netanyahu.
Mossad chief David Barnea stressed to Netanyahu, “There is a deal on the table. If we delay, we could miss the opportunity. We have to take it.”
According to the report, Netanyahu reacted angrily, accusing the war chiefs of being “soft.”
“You don’t know how to negotiate. You’re putting words in my mouth,” he was quoted as saying.
“Instead of pressuring me, pressure [Hamas leader] Sinwar,” he reportedly told his security chiefs.
The senior official who spoke to Haaretz described the Wednesday meeting as a culmination of the brewing crisis between Netanyahu and Israel’s war chiefs.
“There is a chasm between us and the prime minister,” he said. “Everyone is convinced that Israel’s new additions will blow up the talks, and, conversely, that we have the security tools to handle a deal that doesn’t include them.”
Haaretz reported that the team offered Netanyahu to draft a better proposal than the one on the table – which includes changes the prime minister had dictated, chiefly among them his insistence on military control of Gaza’s Netzarim Corridor and along the Egyptian border. Netanyahu rejected the idea, saying he prefers to negotiate the current deal but “on his own terms.”
Netanyhu’s Office denied the Channel 12’s report, saying Hamas has not agreed to the terms of the deal. “It even remains unclear if Hamas had backed down from its demand for an Israeli commitment to end the war and completely withdraw from the Gaza Strip, without the option of resuming the fighting,” Netanyahu’s office said.
The statement added, “No agreement has been reached regarding the number of living hostages to be released, Israel’s presence [along the Egypt border],” as well as “other important details. The demands Israel is insisting on are consistent with the framework from May 27. Contrary to the report, the prime minister did not add a thing, while Hamas is the one demanding dozens of changes.”
Last week, Haaretz reported that a source who spoke with the prime minister in Washington struggled to say whether Netanyahu is seeking to reach a deal or sabotage it. “Netanyahu is willing to do a lot in order to resume the negotiations, but he is willing to do much less to show flexibility in a way that will enable the release of the hostages,” the source said.
“Netanyahu is convinced that he knows better than anyone else how to negotiate, but he forgets that negotiations must also have a result. He digs in on issues that are liable to lead to the collapse of the talks, instead of being flexible and bringing about the release of the hostages, whose lives are in danger every day,” the source continued.
