“During the talks, I will focus on Israel’s commitment, above all else, to the return of our soldiers and citizens who are in the hands of Hamas,” thus summed up the Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi’s mission during his visit last Sunday to Cairo.
Ashkenazi’s visit to Cairo came within the framework of the Egyptian side’s efforts to establish an unconditional ceasefire between the Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli occupation army, which took effect on May 21, 11 days after the Israeli aggression on Gaza.
According to the official Hebrew Kan channel, Tel Aviv requires the return of 4 Israeli soldiers detained in the Gaza Strip before any step to rebuild the Strip, which has been inhabited by more than two million Palestinians and has been besieged by Israel since the summer of 2006.
And last Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu renewed the Israeli demand for the return of soldiers and civilians detained in the Gaza Strip as soon as possible, according to what he posted on his Twitter account.
The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) keeps 4 Israelis, including two soldiers who were captured during the war on Gaza in the summer of 2014 (without disclosing their fate or health status), and the other two who entered Gaza in unclear circumstances during the past years.
As for the Hamas movement, it rejects the link between reconstruction and the exchange of prisoners, and insists on conducting a prisoner exchange deal according to its conditions represented in the liberation of a large number of Palestinian prisoners.
In response to the statements of the Israeli leaders, Yahya Al-Sinwar, the leader of the movement in Gaza, told reporters, yesterday, Monday, “Record your resistance number 1111, you will remember this number,” without additional explanations, but it seemed like the number of Palestinian prisoners that the movement seeks to free in exchange for their release The four Israelis.
In the same context, a member of the movement’s political bureau, Musa Abu Marzouk, said yesterday, Monday, in a tweet on Twitter, “It is unacceptable for Netanyahu to link the file of Gaza reconstruction to the file of his missing soldiers.”
It is unacceptable for Netanyahu to link the file of Gaza reconstruction with the file of his missing soldiers. This is something we completely reject, and it is contrary to international laws. His soldiers were captured in a war zone. Our prisoners meet them during the occupation. This is the equation.
– Dr. Musa Abu Marzouk DR. Mousa Abumarzook (@mosa_abumarzook) May 31, 2021
According to analysts, the Israeli side is trying to raise its ceiling in the ceasefire negotiations with the Palestinian factions, in an attempt to present an achievement to the Israeli street, especially with Netanyahu’s failure to achieve his goals of aggression, foremost of which is compromising Hamas’ military ability.
Yesterday, Monday, the director of Egyptian intelligence, Abbas Kamel, arrived in the Gaza Strip, on a visit that lasts for hours, during which he discussed 3 main files with the Hamas leadership, which are fixing the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the reconstruction file, and the prisoner exchange issue, according to a source who spoke to Anadolu Agency.t
Deep trouble
Noman Amro, a lecturer at Al-Quds Open University (affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization), says that Israel “has a deep political problem and is trying to escape from it.”
Amr believes that all the positions declared by Israel regarding Gaza are for internal electoral consumption and political auction, considering that what is going on in closed rooms may be far from what is being reported by the media.
And he continues, “With the progress in forming a government that may topple Netanyahu, the media preoccupation with the issue of the war and its effects and the consequences of it is to gain votes from the right to impede the formation of Lapid and Bennett a government.”
On Sunday evening, Naftali Bennett, leader of the “right” party, announced his intention to join forces with the “There is a future” party (center), led by Yair Lapid, to form a government that topples Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the Likud party (right).
Amr stresses that the reconstruction of Gaza will only be with the approval of the residents of Gaza and the Gaza leadership (Hamas).
He explained that the Palestinian side “is a major factor in these events, and that makes Israel try to impose conditions that will not be heard by the Palestinians and the parties that mediate a cease-fire.”
Two reasons to link
For his part, Muhammad Abu Allan, a writer specializing in Israeli affairs, points out that linking the reconstruction of Gaza and the truce to a prisoner exchange deal and the release of captured soldiers in Gaza dominates the Israeli media.
He believes that the reason is the big difference between the two sides in the stances, and thus the occupation’s linking the deal with reconstruction and the ceasefire is in order to blackmail Hamas in the price.
Abu Allan indicates that there is a direct relationship to this link with Israel’s internal situation.
This is explained by two reasons: The first is the failure of the Israeli occupation to achieve any military achievement during the recent aggression on Gaza, and that pushed it to make the return of prisoners and missing persons a condition of the ceasefire.
He adds, “This link gives the impression that the issue is on the agenda and not forgotten.”
The second reason, according to Abu Allan, is to cover up any concessions that will be made during the ceasefire negotiations, especially allowing the reconstruction of Gaza and the entry of funds into the Strip, given that he (Netanyahu) did not agree to them for free.
The Palestinian analyst points out that there is pressure from the families of the captured Israeli soldiers to link the reconstruction of Gaza with their return.
The situation in the Palestinian territories erupted, recently, as a result of brutal Israeli attacks in the occupied city of Jerusalem, especially in the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood (center), in an attempt to evacuate 12 Palestinian homes and hand them over to settlers, then the tension moved to the West Bank, and turned into a military confrontation in the Gaza Strip. Gaza.
The Israeli aggression on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, since last April 13, has resulted in 289 martyrs, including 69 children, 40 women, and 17 elderly people, as well as more than 8900 injured, including 90 of them “very serious”.