“Hamas has proposed numerous changes. We discussed the changes,” Blinken said in Doha, Qatar, where he has been involved in talks aimed at reaching an agreement, adding: “Some are workable, some are not,”
“Hamas could have answered with a single word,” he said. “Instead they waited two weeks and proposed changes. As a result, the war Hamas started will go on, more people will suffer. But in the days ahead we will continue to push to try to close this deal.”
“At some point in a negotiation — and this has gone back and forth for a long time — you get to a point where if one side continues to change its demands, including making demands and insisting on changes for things that they had already accepted, you have to question whether they’re proceeding in good faith or not,” Blinken said, adding that the U.S. and its partners remained “determined to try to bridge the gaps — and I believe those gaps are bridgeable.”
Bolded for emphasis.
Hamas is the current barrier to acceptance of the current peace deal, per the US Sec of State.
Hot take: unless there is no deal at all that the one side would ever accept, or if a side is not accepting a proposal (not just line items from a proposal, but the whole thing) that they themselves put forth, then it’s nonsense to blame one side for not accepting a deal. “We think they are being unreasonable by not taking this deal that is acceptable to us,” is bad faith.
Well, I think context and details matter; if one side’s demands are unreasonable then I don’t know that we should extend them much goodwill. I think the United States is legitimately trying to work out a deal acceptable to both sides, within the constraints they operate in, and unfortunately one of those constraints is being incredibly deferential to Israel in all things so their ability to accomplish that goal is…limited. And we’ve still seen no indication from Netanyahu that this deal is being taken seriously by Israel, only gullible-ass Blinken promising they super would, they told him behind closed doors, he’s sure they mean it.
True to a point, but the key part is bolded for a reason. Blinken is saying that Hamas is making demands, then getting those demands met, and then moving their demands. That’s not exactly something that is easy to work with, and not something you do if you truly want peace.
I listened to the first half of today’s Ezra Klein Show going to and from the bakery, and it’s depressing:
So one thing I did in Israel was deepen my reporting on Israel’s right. And there, Amit Segal’s name kept coming up. Many consider him the most influential political analyst on the right and deeply rooted in the right. He has a book coming out in English called “The Story of Israeli Politics.”
Here are some quotes from that first half that roughly sum up where this guy is coming from:
The takeaways from this first half of the conversation are basically
he says the Israeli left is dead, only 12% of people in a poll identify themselves with either the “left” or “center-left”
in his view (which is, like, the middle ground between the center-right and far-right that now makes up Israeli politics & decisionmaking) Israel has already tried everything and none of it worked so the only remaining option for Israeli security is permanent occupation
Indeed, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has made eight trips to Israel since Oct. 7, should not make another without Israel and Hamas agreeing to a clear war-ending plan. He is debasing his and U.S. power. This is ultimatum time. Biden should be telling Israel that it should accept Hamas’s key demand: Totally end the war now and withdraw from Gaza in exchange for the return of all Israeli hostages. Israel cannot think straight while Hamas holds its people.
A recent episode of Washington Week, instead of the usual round table discussion, just had Friedman one on one with the moderator. I was unexpectedly impressed with him.
Mr. Smotrich, a far-right lawmaker, said Mr. Netanyahu was aware of the details of the plan, much of which was foreshadowed in a coalition agreement between their parties that allows the prime minister to remain in power. Mr. Netanyahu is “with us full on,” Mr. Smotrich said in the speech.
