Every year I send a Rosh Hashanah greeting.
I always try to formulate wishes for peace and give some inspiration to all of us. Like all of us, this year I have no words. My heart is broken, my eyes full of tear, sleep without thoughts of the hostages does not exist. I maintain my sanity thanks to my non-stop activity to bring the war to an end and the hostages to return to their homes. My personal history has led me to be perhaps the only Israeli who is in continuous contact with the leaders of Hamas and this allows me to make proposals, promote deals, and with great hope – bring our hostages home. I have 18 years of experience in negotiations with Hamas, and also 18 years of fighting with the official bodies in the State of Israel who determine whether there will be a deal or not.
Gilad Shalit was in captivity for five unnecessary years because of the Israeli system. Our hostages in Gaza have been there for way too many months . As I understand it, there is a deal on the table that in three weeks they can all be returned home. The price is known: the end of the Gaza war, a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, an agreed release of Palestinian prisoners – and all 101 abductees will return home. In addition to this, Hamas says (to me) that they are ready to transfer the power in Gaza to a professional, technocratic body, not of Hamas. In other words, the Prime Minister can present this deal as his big win. He returns the hostages and the government in Gaza will not be run by Hamas. Since I am not a representative of the State of Israel nor a spokesperson for Hamas, the responsibility now rests with the State of Israel’s negotiating team. They do not need the Prime Minister’s approval to check with the mediators – the US, Qatar, and Egypt – whether Hamas is behind the three-week deal or not. They must check it. This proposal is on President Biden’s desk, it is on the desk of the Emir of Qatar, it is on the desk of the Egyptian intelligence chief.
The Prime Minister of Israel knows that there is such a proposal. There is no more time to hesitate. It’s time to decide. Netanyahu must accept this deal. President Biden must press with all his might on the Prime Minister to accept it, and then Biden’s legacy will be that of the president who ended the Gaza war and returned the hostages. All of this is doable. All this can happen right after Rosh Hashanah. All this must happen immediately after the new year. We simply cannot bear this pain anymore.
Our recovery as a nation will only begin after the return of the hostages. I wish us all a much better year.
