From what I know and from what I understand, if I was one of the heads of the Israeli negotiating team, I would submit my resignation to Netanyahu. My integrity would not allow me to continue to play the game of negotiating when I know that there is no chance of reaching an agreement, because the Prime Minister has put conditions that will never be accepted by Hamas, and he knows it. Under those conditions, without a mandate to succeed, I would stop playing the game according to Netanyahu’s rules.
If I were the mediators, Egypt and Qatar, I would put a draft agreement on the table, taking into account some of Hamas’s demands and some of Israel’s demands and then tell Israel and Hamas: TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT! Should they decide not to take it, I would publish the draft for the world to see, mostly for the Israeli and Palestinian people to see, and I would notify Israel and Hamas that we have finished playing the game according to their rules. The rules have changed – this is the agreement, negotiations are over.
Neither side gets all of what they want. That is not possible. The basis of my proposal is that the whole thing is completed in six weeks. The war ends. Israel withdraws from Gaza. 115 Israeli hostages come home. A large number of Palestinian prisoners are released, but Israel selects them and they include prisoners who have killed Israelis. The prisoners are all sent to their homes, which is a Hamas demand, but enables Israel to have greater ability to monitor them and assess if they are a danger to Israel’s security.
It is clear that this does not end the story. It should be clear that as long as Hamas remains in control of Gaza, not a single dollar will be invested on reconstruction. Until there is a legitimate and responsible different government in Gaza, no Arab country will send troops there in a peacekeeping mission. The Gaza-Egypt border will be sealed hermetically on the Egyptian side of the border with US inspection, technology and monitoring. As long as Hamas continues to be a threat to Israel, the chances of renewed war are always there.
Once the war is over, Israel must go to elections (hopefully before then) and the international community must help to create the regional framework for bringing the two states solution and the end of the Israeli occupation to fruition. There are a lot of preconditions for that to happen, but nothing begins until the war in Gaza is over and the Israeli hostages come home.
PROPOSAL FOR MEDIATORS’ ULTIMATUM TO ISRAEL AND HAMAS
TIME FRAME: 6 WEEKS
ISRAELI HOSTAGES: ALL 115, ALIVE AND DEAD, WILL BE RELEASED AND RETURNED TO ISRAEL VIA THE ICRC ON A SCHEDULE TO BE DETAILED BY THE MEDIATORS IN CONSULTATIONS WITH HAMAS.
PALESTINIAN PRISONERS: 35 PRISONERS TO BE RELEASED TO THEIR HOMES FOR EACH HOSTAGE – A TOTAL OF 4,025 PALESTINIAN PRISONERS, INCLUDING AT LEAST 50% OF THOSE SERVING LIFE SENTENCES. ISRAEL WILL SELECT THE LIST OF PRISONERS AND AN AGREED SCHEDULE OF THEIR RELEASE WILL BE DETAILED BY THE MEDIATORS IN CONSULTATION WITH ISRAEL. THE RELEASE OF PRISONERS WILL BE COORDINATED WITH THE RELEASE OF ISRAELI HOSTAGES.
ISRAELI WITHDRAWAL FROM GAZA: FULL ISRAEL WITHDRAWAL FROM GAZA BY THE END OF 6 WEEKS. THE FULL ISRAELI PLAN ON THE WITHDRAWAL WILL BE SUBMITTED TO THE MEDIATORS BY ISRAEL WITHIN 2 WEEKS OF SUBMITTING THIS PLAN.
THE ISRAELI WITHDRAWAL WILL INCLUDE THE PHILIDELPHI CORRIDOR WHICH WILL BE SECURED AGAINST ANY SMUGGLING FROM THE EGYPTIAN SIDE OF THE WALL WITH USA MILITARY OVERSIGHT. QATAR AND THE USA WILL PROVIDE FUNDING AND TECHNOLOGY (IF NEEDED) TO EGYPT TO LOCATE AND DESTROY ANY EXISTING SMUGGLING TUNNELS ALONG THE CORRIDOR.
RAFAH CROSSING: THE RAFAH CROSSING WILL BE CONTROLLED FOR A PERIOD OF NOT LESS THAN ONE YEAR BY A MULTI-NATIONAL TEAM INCLUDING EUCOPPS. HAMAS WILL NOT RETURN TO CONTROL THE RAFAH CROSSING EVER.
HUMANITARIAN AID: HUMANITARIAN AID INTO GAZA WILL BE INCREASED TO NO LESS THAN 600 TRUCKS PER DAY. ENTRY INTO GAZA WILL BE FROM RAFAH, KEREM SHALOM, AND EREZ CROSSINGS. HUMANITARIAN AID WILL BE ALLOWED TO ENTER VIA THE PORT OF ASHDOD AS WELL AS FROM THE EGYPTIAN SIDE. AN AGREED INTERNATIONAL INSPECTION MECHANISM WILL BE ESTABLISHED TO BE DETAILED BY THE MEDIATIORS.
END OF WAR: AT THE END OF 6 WEEKS, THE WAR IN GAZA WILL COME TO AN END.
GAZA ADMINSTRATION: NO LATER THAN BY THE END OF WEEK THREE, A REGIONAL-INTERNATIONAL MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE IN CAIRO TO DETERMINE THE NATURE OF A PALESTINIAN-LED TERMPORARY ADMINISTRATION FOR GAZA. THE CONFERENCE WILL INCLUDE AT LEAST: THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY, EGYPT, JORDAN, QATAR, UAE, SAUDI ARABIA, BAHRAIN, THE USA, THE EU, CHINA, THE UN. THE CONFERENCE WILL LAST NO LONGER THAN FIVE DAYS DURING WHICH TIME A FULL PLAN WILL BE DETERMINED.
MEDIATORS END NOTE: THIS PROPOSAL DOES NOT REPRESENT A NEGOTIATION. THIS IS THE AGREED PLAN OF THE MEDIATORS AND IT IS NON-NEGOTIATABLE. SHOULD THE PARTIES (ISRAEL AND HAMAS) NOT AGREE TO THIS PLAN, THE MEDIATORS WILL CEASE THE ROLE AS MEDIATORS AND THE PARTIES WILL BE ON THEIR OWN TO REACH AN AGREEMENT.
