After more than a year of mediating ceasefire and hostage release negotiations between Hamas and Israel, the Biden administration has learned to temper its optimism, APA reports citing The Washington Post.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, amid numerous media reports that a deal was imminent and the arrival of CIA Director William J. Burns in Qatar for what might be the final round of talks during the Biden administration, said Wednesday he was “hopeful.
No progress toward agreement was reported Thursday. Burns departed Doha after a day and is no longer in the Middle East, said a U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about sensitive diplomacy, although a U.S. delegation remains.
One factor pushing the talks toward conclusion is the upcoming change of administration in Washington, now just weeks away. Both Israel and Hamas, as well as U.S., Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Doha, “want to prepare the ground for Trump,” speculated a member of a diplomatic mission in the region, also speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
“They know that if they don’t reach such an agreement it will not be a good thing for any of them, including the Israelis,” this person said. “I think this has resulted in a lot of developments. ... The question is whether they wait for Trump” or not.
At a Monday news conference, President-elect Donald Trump said that “all hell’s going to break out” if the 100 or so remaining hostages held by Hamas — not all of them still alive — are not returned to Israel by his Jan. 20 inauguration. The vast majority are Israeli, alth
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