‘Hamas-Israel deal imminent,’ to the dismay of Palestinian factions

Hamas is about to sign a “comprehensive” agreement with Israel for the lifting of an eight-year blockade placed on the Gaza Strip in return for a long-term ceasefire, a senior Turkish official said on Sunday. But the agreement is facing domestic opposition from without, as Palestinian factions consider it a potential danger to the political unity of Gaza and the West Bank as stipulated by the Oslo Accords.

In an interview with Hamas daily al-Resalah, Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and deputy chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party, said that Hamas’s political leader Khaled Mashaal came to Ankara last week to update the Turkish leadership on the details of an agreement reached with Israel and mediated by former British prime minister Tony Blair.

Details of the imminent agreement, reported first by London-based daily al-Hayat on Thursday, have begun to emerge on Hamas news outlets as well over the weekend. According to the reports, Gaza will be allowed to import merchandise through a “floating port” located 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) off the coast. An intermediary port will be established in Cyprus, where all Gaza-bound merchandise will be scrutinized by NATO representatives.

According to Hamas daily al-Resalah, Israel would like to see a larger package deal that would include the exchange of “live and dead Israeli prisoners” held by Hamas — likely a reference to Ethiopian-Israeli citizen Avraham Abere Mengistu and a Bedouin man who both entered the Gaza Strip voluntarily, as well as the remains of Israeli soldiers killed during Operation Protective Edge last summer — in return for Hamas prisoners jailed by Israel.


http://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-israel-deal-imminent-to-the-dismay-of-palestinian-factions/

Israel Denies Contacts With Hamas on Long-term Truce

Several initiatives are underway at a distance, however, to check the feasibility of a ceasefire – the most important being that of former U.K. premier Tony Blair.

Israel officially denied Monday night that it is conducting direct or indirect negotiations with Hamas on a long-term cease-fire agreement.

“There are no meetings with Hamas,” the prime minister’s bureau said in a statement, adding: “There are no direct contacts, no contacts through other countries and no contacts through intermediaries.”

The statement from Prime Minister Netanyahu’s bureau came after weeks of frequent reports from Palestinian and other Arab media of contacts between Israel and Hamas over a long-term cease-fire. Jerusalem ignored the reports and declined to respond to them for quite some time, which created the impression that there was some substance to them.

However, after an accumulation of new reports in the Arab media in the past two days about an agreement close to signing, together with public statements by senior officials in Turkey and a statement by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accusing Israel and Hamas of holding secret meetings for eight months in an African country, it was decided in the prime minister’s bureau to release a sweeping denial.

Meanwhile, senior officials in Egypt denied that Cairo, which mediated a cease-fire during last summer’s war in Gaza, was involved in any contacts over a new agreement involving Gaza. An Egyptian security official told Haaretz that the cease-fire agreement formulated at the end of Operation Protective Edge was the only one on the table that the parties recognize. “If there is to be any progress, it must be based on that agreement,” the source said.

Any future agreement with Gaza would have to be accepted by all the factions, including the PA, with is the legal sovereign, the Egyptian source said. “We cannot take part in a game in which a Palestinian faction conducts negotiations separately on the future of an area that is to be part of the Palestinian state to be established based on the ’67 borders,” the source said.

The denial published by the prime minister’s bureau is not false. However, from conversations with a number of Israeli figures – those with official functions and those without but involved in the issue – it emerges that the picture is more complex. “Israel is not holding negotiations on a cease-fire with Hamas, but it is certainly checking the feasibility of the matter,” one of the Israeli sources said.

Since last summer’s war in Gaza, a number of international figures have been involved in various initiatives in the Gaza Strip. The Qatar government, which has always been one of Hamas’ main sponsors, sent a special emissary to Israel and Gaza to discuss the rehabilitation of the Strip. The government of Turkey, another patron of Hamas, is also conducting talks with senior Hamas officials and various international figures regarding the situation in Gaza.

The Swiss government tried unsuccessfully to help resolve the crises in payment of salaries to government workers in the Gaza Strip. The Norwegian government, as head of the forum of donor countries to the Palestinians, tried to advance a regional plan to rebuild Gaza; however, it was unable to make progress.

Former United Nations emissary Robert Serry tried to advance a plan for a three-to-five year cease-fire during his last months in the post. Serry mainly spoke to Hamas in Gaza about his plan to test whether there was anyone to talk to about anything. His replacement, Nikolay Mladenov, who took up the position in February, has so far made no progress.

Perhaps the most significant individual to begin dealing with cease-fire initiatives in Gaza in recent months is the former Quartet emissary to the Middle East, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Ironically, it was after Blair resigned from the post in May that he became more relevant than ever before, because he is no longer obligated to the Quartet’s conditions, which prevented him from talking to Hamas as long as that organization did not recognize Israel, abandon terror and support previous agreements signed by the Palestinians.

Over the past few months Blair has met twice in Qatar with Hamas’ political bureau chief Khaled Meshal to discuss the situation in Gaza and the possibility of a long-term cease-fire.

Almost none of the international initiatives involve Israel. However, Blair’s initiative is an exception, because it includes a certain Israeli involvement. It is the most serious of all the international initiatives on Gaza, due to Blair’s high international standing and his good relations with the White House, the prime minister’s bureau in Jerusalem and the president’s office in Cairo.

An Israeli official involved in Blair’s contacts said that before he went to his first meeting with Meshal in Doha, he invited himself to a meeting in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The latter made clear to Blair that he was not authorizing him to convey messages to Hamas, because he does not regard Blair as an intermediary. But Netanyahu also told Blair that he sees Blair’s activities as testing for feasibility. If he obtains results in his talks with senior Hamas officials, Israel would be prepared to hear the details.

Senior Israeli officials and unofficial Israeli figures involved in the issue said that Blair has made no significant progress so far in his two meetings with Meshal. Ideas that came up were those that had been raised before – a five-year cease-fire, a massive international plan to rehabilitate Gaza, lifting the Israeli blockade and providing Gaza with an outlet to the world by opening a port in Gaza or using a port in Cyprus under international supervision.

read more: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.671642

Tony Blair is understood to be acting as a go-between in secret talks aimed at lifting the Israeli siege of Gaza. Since resigning as the Quartet's Middle East envoy in May, the former prime minister has twice held talks with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, according to Arabic media reports, while Israel's Haaretz newspaper said Mr Blair had earlier discussed his plans with Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu. As the Quartet envoy, Mr Blair would have been prevented from holding talks with Hamas, which has run the Gaza Strip since 2007.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/tony-blair-mediating-planned-truce-between-hamas-and-israel-10461712.html

Published time: 19 Aug, 2015 13:17

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair is acting as a mediator in hush-hush talks between Hamas and Israel in an attempt to halt the Israeli siege of Gaza, reports suggest.
According to accounts from Al-Hayat, an Arabic daily newspaper, since resigning as the Quartet’s Middle East envoy Blair has held two meetings with the Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal.
Hamas has been in control of the Gaza strip since 2007. 
One Israeli newspaper also reported that Blair had previously discussed his plans with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Meetings have reportedly taken place in Qatar, and have centered around the possibility of a temporary ceasefire, which would lift the siege on Gaza.
Al-Hayat also reported Israel would allow a naval corridor to operate between Cyprus and Gaza. In return Hamas would agree to a 10-year ceasefire.


View image on Twitter


   Follow  
 RT  ✔ @RT_com
Israel restarts construction of controversial ‘separation’ wall near Bethlehem http://on.rt.com/6pc2 
6:17 AM - 19 Aug 2015

(On land owned by the church, Palestinians tried to defend it, they were arrested)


However, on Monday Israel denied it was taking part in any such talks with Hamas.
“Israel is officially clarifying that it is not holding any meetings with Hamas, neither directly, nor via other countries or intermediaries,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
The Fatah controlled Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, on the other hand, claimed its own peace talks had been underway and accused Hamas of trying to break up the Palestinian territories.
“There have been negotiations and they are on the verge of reaching an agreement about a truce of eight to 10 years,” Riad al-Malki, Palestinian foreign minister, told France 24.
The agreement would see the end of Israel’s siege of Gaza and “allow maritime passage” to nearby Cyprus, Malki said. 
“We don’t know if it will happen tomorrow or in a month,” he said. “There are mediators who are doing their utmost to reach this agreement.”
Fatah said Blair was acting as a go-between in the talks. 
“The Hamas-Blair agreement ... paves the way for division and the isolation of the Gaza Strip,” said spokesman Ahmed Assaf.
He said this would continue to help “Israel to achieve its goal of preventing the creation of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.”
A senior adviser to the Turkish prime minister appeared to confirm the links between Hamas and Blair in comments made this week. 
The aide, Yasin Aktay, said Meshaal had discussed details of a meeting mediated by Blair during a visit to Turkey.

https://www.rt.com/uk/312829-blair-israel-gaza-hamas/

Hamas have been offering these conditions for years and Israel have always rejected them.

I think this is very amusing and how Sassy is desperate this peace deal does not happen and lift the blockade.
Speaks volumes

No, ISRAEL IS DESPERATE PEACE DOESN'T HAPPEN, which is why Netanyahu put out the statement on Monday.

Caplocks even more desperate than I thought.

Yes, Israel are, aren't they.  You'd have thought the number of times this offer has been made they would at least talk.

Really sassy so why did Israel agree to a truce after the first week of the conflict last year and Hamas?


Why has the PLO and Fatah both rejected peace deals that Israel acepted that would have created a Palestinian state?

Senior Israeli officials and unofficial Israeli figures involved in the issue said that Blair has made no significant progress so far in his two meetings with Meshal. Ideas that came up were those that had been raised before – a five-year cease-fire, a massive international plan to rehabilitate Gaza, lifting the Israeli blockade and providing Gaza with an outlet to the world by opening a port in Gaza or using a port in Cyprus under international supervision.

Oh have not had this much fun in ages so again:

Really sassy so why did Israel agree to a truce after the first week of the conflict last year and Hamas?


Why has the PLO and Fatah both rejected peace deals that Israel acepted that would have created a Palestinian state?