| One month ago, Israelis and Palestinians felt that rarest of things: optimism.
Paraphrased part.. Optimism had dawned in the minds of the Israelis and the Palestinians just a month ago.
After months of stalled talks, there was finally a ceasefire in Gaza. There seemed to be a real path towards the end of the war.
Paraphrased part .. Gaza saw a ceasefire after months of faltering negotiations. It seemed lasting peace was finally on its way.
But the situation has changed drastically since then.
Paraphrased part.. However, the scenario has been fully reversed in the meanwhile.
The 42-day truce between Israel and Hamas is set to expire this weekend unless an agreement is struck to extend it. The two sides were meant to begin talks on a permanent end to the war in early February; three weeks later, they still haven’t started.
Paraphrased part .. Israelis and Hamas were expected to hold talks in early February to draw up an action plan so that the 42-day truce ending by this weekend gets converted to a permanent halt to military operations. Although three weeks have elapsed since then, the talks haven’t resumed.
Since the deal was struck, there’s been a vibe shift in Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is buoyed by the return of US President Donald Trump and under pressure from far-right members of his own cabinet to return to war. The Gaza ceasefire looks increasingly like it may end up being a fleeting interlude.
Paraphrased part.. The re-election of President Trump known for his strong anti-Hamas views has encouraged far-right Israelis to press their prime minister Netenyahu to harden his views on possible ceasefire. He feels emboldened to abandon ceasefire and resume armed attacks in Gaza.
“We are ready to return to intense combat at any moment,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told graduating military officers on Sunday. “The operational plans are ready.”
Paraphrased part.. While addressing a graduation ceremony of army officers, Netenyahu asserted that Israel was ready to return to very brutal military operations any moment. He said that the army’s operational preparedness is at its peak.
-Netanyahu made his tenuous commitment to the ceasefire clear when he traveled to Washington DC to meet Trump earlier this month and opted not to send a negotiating team to Qatar or Egypt, which mediated the ceasefire.
Paraphrased part .. Netanyahu never had his heart and soul in the ceasefire, now in force. This became evident when he met President Trump in Washington DC earlier this month and declared that he wouldn’t send his negotiators again to Egypt or Qatar to resume the talks.
He has replaced Israel’s security chiefs, who previously led ceasefire negotiations, with a close political ally – his minister of strategic affairs, Ron Dermer, who is said to be close to the Trump administration. Israeli media last week was briefed by a “senior official” castigating the security chief-led negotiating team for giving Hamas too much in previous talks.
Paraphrased part.. Ron Dermer is the minister of strategic affairs in Netanyahu’s cabinet. He will now be Israel’s chief negotiator in place of the team comprising of the country’s three defense chiefs. This three-member team had brought the tortuous ceasefire talks to fruition earlier. Ron Dermer seems to be close to Trump administration. There are reports in Israeli media that a senior government official had admonished the three-member negotiating team of ceding too much ground to the Hamas during the earlier talks.
Even during the initial ceasefire negotiations, it was clear that Netanyahu was skeptical of its potential second phase.
Paraphrased part.. When the earlier round of negotiations were in progress towards a successful outcome, Netanyahu had expressed his doubts about the possibility of the second round of talks happening.
The first phase was always temporary for him. It was a way to get some hostages home without permanently ending the war or having to talk about what Gaza will look like once it’s over. Nearly 17 months since October 7, he has yet to present his vision for Gaza’s future, except to say that neither Hamas nor the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority should govern.
Paraphrased part.. When the first phase talks were dragging on, Netanyahu’s sole motive was to somehow get some hostages freed from Hamas captivity. He never intended to permanently abandon his war option against Hamas, nor did he want to think positively about Gaza’s post-war look. Although 17 months have gone by after the October 7 incursion by Hamas terror gangs and Israel has reduced Gaza to dust in retaliation, Netanyahu has not bothered to visualize what the future holds for the war-ravaged Gaza. The only concrete demand he has made so far is that Gaza’s administration must not be with the Hamas and the Palestian Authority should also not govern the West Bank after the war ends.
The second phase was always going to be trickier. It would see Hamas and Israel agree to a permanent end to hostilities, the release of all living Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, including from the Gaza-Egypt border.
Paraphrased part .. The second phase of negotiations had a difficult agenda. The items to be discussed are ..
1. Israel and Hamas should permanently undertake not to use arms to settle their differences.
2. All living Israeli hostages were to be freed by Hamas to return home.
3. In exchange , all Palestinian prisoners languishing in Israeli jails were to be freed to return home.
4. Israel must pull back all its troops from Gaza including the Egypt-Gaza border.
Netanyahu is under tremendous pressure to return to war. His finance minister, the far-right-winger Bezalel Smotrich, has threatened to withdraw from the governing coalition if Israel doesn’t restart the war after this weekend. Itamar Ben Gvir quit his post as national security minister over the ceasefire.
Paraphrased part .. At the root of Netanyahu’s desire to resume armed attacks on Gaza are some of his cabinet colleagues with far-right political leans. Bezalel Smotrich, his finance minister has threatened to quit if war operations don’t restart soon after this week end. He will go taking with him MPs with far-right ideology. If this happens, Netanyahu’s government would collapse as he can no longer claim parliamentary majority. Earlier his national security minister Ben Givr had resigned to express his aversion to ceasefire talks.
Netanyahu is trying to extend the current terms of the ceasefire without any of the tough commitments required by a potential second phase. An Israeli source familiar with the matter told CNN Tuesday that the government is trying to extend the first phase “by as much as possible” in the hope of releasing more hostages.
Paraphrase part .. Netanyahu cleverly intends to extend the current ceasefire arrangements as long as possible in order to have more of the hostages freed. Starting the second phase of negotiation will obviously bring on to the negotiations able the contentious four-point agenda mentioned earlier.
t is unclear whether Hamas, for whom the hostages are their most valuable asset, would continue releasing Israelis without an Israeli commitment to end the war.
Paraphrased part… In all probability, Hamas would free more hostages without a tangible progress towards a permanent end to Israeli war operations. For Hamas, the hostages are the best lever to put pressure on Israel.
Though Trump championed and took credit for the ceasefire, his messaging since taking office has hardly been that of a peacemaker. He’s proposed expelling Palestinians from Gaza, he’s considering some Israelis’ desire to annex the West Bank, and he’s expressed doubt about the fate of the ceasefire. “I can’t tell you whether or not the cease fire will hold,” he said earlier this month. “We are going to see whether or not it holds.”
Paraphrased part .. During his presidential campaign, Trump had vociferously demanded strong U.S. action to end the Israli-Hamas confrontation. When the ceasefire finally happened, Trump patted himself in the back crating the perception that he was the peacemaker. Strangely, after his ascendancy to the White House, his tone has become belligerent and alarmingly hostile to the Palestinian cause. He has even floated the idea to forcibly evict the Palestinians from Gaza and convert the swathe of land to a tourist spot. He is much less enthused with the idea of a permanent ceasefire.
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