Walking a tightrope, Netanyahu struggles to maintain his balance

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For Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the Gaza ceasefire negotiations are an exercise in playing both sides against the middle.

Raising hopes that a durable truce may be on the horizon nine months into the war, US and Israeli officials praised Hamas’ reply to new language put forward by the Biden administration in the three-stage ceasefire proposal announced in May by the US president.

In response, Mr. Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister had authorized the Israeli negotiating team to engage in further talks in Qatar with US, Qatari, and Egyptian mediators.

Credit: The White House

President Joe Biden’s proposal calls for an initial six-week ceasefire during which Hamas would swap 33 of the 120 dead or alive Israeli and foreign hostages it holds for Palestinians incarcerated in Israel.

The ceasefire would be extended into the second phase while the parties negotiate an end to the war and include the release of the remaining live Hamas-held hostages. The third phase would involve the reconstruction of Gaza’s destroyed infrastructure and the return of the remains of hostages who were killed or died during the war.

The administration’s new language focusses on the terms of the ceasefire’s second phase. Mr. Biden’s original proposal said the second phase would remain in place as long as Hamas and Israel were negotiating.

While the proposal’s language gives both Hamas and Israel the ability to end the second phase at any moment, it, in effect, allows Mr. Netanyahu to maintain his insistence on resuming the war at a time of his choice to achieve his goal of destroying Hamas militarily and politically.

Binyamin Netanyahu talks to Joe Biden. Credit: Israel Government Press Office

Mr. Netanyahu said as much this week in a telephone conversation with Mr. Biden, his first since May, by insisting that Israel will end the war "only after meeting all its goals."

The coming days and weeks will clarify whether the Biden administration has succeeded in bridging the yawning gap that has dogged the ceasefire efforts for months or whether Mr. Netanyahu and Hamas are going through the motions to ensure that the other gets the blame if renewed talks fail.