Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani placed the blame squarely on Israel for the collapse of the latest ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, speaking candidly during an appearance at the Qatar Economic Forum on Tuesday. He described a deep disconnect between the two sides’ goals in the talks, which he said made compromise impossible.
“There is a fundamental gap between the two parties. One party is looking for a partial deal that might have the possibility to lead to a comprehensive deal, and the other party is looking for a one-off deal to end the war and to get all the hostages out,” the Prime Minister stated, “We couldn’t bridge this fundamental gap with whatever proposals we have provided given the past experiance of the first deal that collapsed.”
Al-Thani warned that Israel’s ongoing military escalation would further delay any hope of reaching a negotiated end to the war. He expressed concern that continued fighting would bring more casualties and suffering.
According to al-Thani, “We are stuck in a situation where if this (intensified Israeli military) operation begins, it is just going to postpone the diplomatic conclusion of the war, which will only end diplomatically, from our point of view. It will just cost us a death toll on the Palestinian side and on the hostages’ side.”
He sharply criticized Israel’s military actions across several fronts, accusing the country of destabilizing the region and making matters worse by increasing violence not only in Gaza, but also in Judea and Samaria, Lebanon, and Syria.
“The continuation of this campaign and this behavior, not only in Gaza, but in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), Lebanon, and Syria, is becoming unbearable.” The Qatari Prime Minister claimed that such actions will only “fuel the narrative of extremism and terrorism.”
In response to al-Thani’s comments, officials in Yerushalayim are reportedly weighing whether to pull their main negotiation team out of Doha, possibly as soon as today. Instead of fully cutting ties, Israel is expected to keep a small, lower-level group in place to monitor the situation and remain informed of any new developments.
{Matzav.com}