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Date: November 09, 2024 at 11:43:34
From: ao, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Qatar Tells Hamas Leaders To Leave |
URL: Move reflects frustration with lack of progress in Gaza cease-fire talks |
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Qatar has asked Hamas’s political leaders to leave the Gulf country, after
more than a year of trying to leverage their presence to broker a cease-fire
with Israel that would halt the war in Gaza and free the hostages held by the
group.
In a move coordinated with the U.S., Qatar told the Hamas leadership to
leave about 10 days ago, according to officials familiar with the matter.
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Date: November 09, 2024 at 14:56:52
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: full article |
URL: https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/qatar-tells-hamas-leaders-to-leave-7d9b1a1e |
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Qatar Tells Hamas Leaders to Leave
Move reflects frustration with lack of progress in Gaza cease-fire talks
By
Jared Malsin
Updated Nov. 9, 2024
"Qatar has asked Hamas’s political leaders to leave the Gulf country, after more
than a year of trying to leverage their presence to broker a cease-fire with Israel
that would halt the war in Gaza and free the hostages held by the group.
In a move coordinated with the U.S., Qatar told the Hamas leadership to leave
about 10 days ago, according to officials familiar with the matter.
The decision is a dark sign for the Biden administration’s long effort to broker a
cease-fire in Gaza, in which it has worked closely with both Egypt and Qatar to
communicate with Hamas. Qatar’s government has grown increasingly frustrated
with both Hamas and Israel in recent months. Its move reflects a conclusion that
there isn’t enough willingness on either side to cut a deal, one of the people said.
The U.S. regards Hamas as a terrorist organization and therefore has no direct
relations with the group, relying instead on intermediaries during months of
painstaking diplomacy over Gaza. The effort to impose a cease-fire in Gaza
fell apart in recent months largely due to intransigence by both Hamas and Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who says he opposes any deal that leaves
the group intact.
“After rejecting repeated proposals to release hostages, its leaders should no
longer be welcome in the capitals of any American partner,” a senior Biden
administration official said. “We made that clear to Qatar following Hamas’s
rejection weeks ago of another hostage release proposal.”
Senior Hamas officials denied that they had been asked to leave the country.
Qatari officials have previously threatened the group with expulsion, including as
recently as August, in an attempt to force progress in negotiations. Such efforts
have failed to push Hamas to do a deal. Some regional officials said the recent
ultimatum to Hamas could be a similar pressure tactic designed to extract
concessions from the group.
A spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry said in a statement that reports about
the Hamas office in Doha were “inaccurate” and added that Qatar’s efforts to
mediate between the parties are “currently stalled.”
The foreign ministry said Qatar notified the U.S., Israel and Hamas 10 days ago
that if an agreement weren’t reached during the latest round of cease-fire talks,
then Doha would stall its efforts to mediate. Qatar would resume its role as a
mediator only when “the parties show their willingness and seriousness to end
the brutal war,” the foreign ministry said.
If the suspension of talks brings Hamas and Israel’s positions on the cease-fire
talks closer together, then Doha could reconsider the pause, a person briefed on
the decision said.
Tiny, hydrocarbon-rich Qatar, a U.S. ally that hosts a major air base that can
accommodate thousands of American troops, has also hosted leaders of the
Taliban and other extremist groups in an effort to promote itself as a diplomatic
power broker.
The presence of the exiled Hamas leadership in Qatar has come under increasing
scrutiny in recent months, as efforts to achieve a cease-fire ran into obstacles. As
early as April, Hamas’s leaders contacted other regional countries looking for a
new base.
Expulsion from Qatar is likely to have little impact on Hamas’s overall leadership
structure, which includes officials spread across the Middle East including in
Lebanon, Turkey, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Under the leadership of Yahya Sinwar, the group’s top leader in Gaza and the
mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Southern Israel, power within Hamas
became concentrated in the hands of the leadership inside Gaza, with Sinwar
taking overall control of the group after former leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in
Tehran over the summer.
Sinwar was himself killed by Israeli forces in Gaza in October, leaving the group
without its top strategist.
Sinwar, who had been jailed in Israel, planned and authorized the Oct. 7 attack
that left 1,200 dead and 250 taken as hostages. Israel launched an offensive in
Gaza which has reduced much of the coastal enclave to rubble and killed more
than 43,000 people, according to local health officials."
Stephen Kalin contributed to this article.
Write to Jared Malsin at jared.malsin@wsj.com, Summer Said at
summer.said@wsj.com and Alexander Ward at alex.ward@wsj.com
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Date: November 09, 2024 at 15:01:53
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: "..there is insufficient willingness from either side.." |
URL: https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/09/middleeast/qatar-mediation-israel-hamas-intl/index.html |
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CNN excerpt
“The Qataris have concluded that there is insufficient willingness from either
side, with the mediation efforts becoming more about politics and PR rather than
a serious attempt to secure peace, save the hostages and Palestinian civilians,”
the diplomatic source told CNN. “As a consequence, the Hamas political office no
longer serves its purpose.”
Hamas has insisted that any agreement with Israel must lead to a permanent end
to the war in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused that
demand. In July he effectively spiked a draft hostage and ceasefire deal by
introducing a raft of new, 11th-hour demands."
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