Israel makes it clear: No role for Turkey as a mediator in hostage deal
Till now, Egypt, along with Qatar and the United States, were instrumental in negotiating the deal for securing the release of the 101 remaining Israeli hostages. But as of now, Israel has taken a position that Turkey can no longer be a mediator for the Gaza hostage deal after reports of Hamas leaders having been seen in Turkey. As per a source to the media, “I don’t know of any Turkish involvement, and I don’t think there could be.”
Given that Joe Biden is going to be taken over by Trump on January 20, it seems all the more unlikely that the Biden administration can extend its influence anymore in pushing the deal. Donald Trump’s win in the recent elections for the US presidency has changed the scenario and it may get a complete turnover in the times ahead.
Talks between Israel and Hamas on the decline
After the execution of six hostages, including an American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, the talks have been mostly on a decline. However, after the assassination of the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, there was some hope that the talks could resume after some time.
According to an Arab diplomat, some senior members of the Hamas leadership left Qatar last week and reached Turkey. The country is of the opinion that it was better to be absent from the mediation required to end the war. The reported leaving of Qatar was broadcast by one of Israel`s leading news channels.
The movement from Qatar to Turkey by the terrorist organization was trivialized by the same Arab diplomat, saying that in any case, the leadership preferred Turkey already when not involved in any meetings at Doha.
One of the leading newspapers of Israel was told by an official source, “I don’t know of any Turkish involvement, and I don’t think there could be.” The source was speaking against the backdrop of the mediation done by Turkey and Egypt while securing the release of about 101 hostages. The US was also involved at that time in the move.
Sources while talking to one of Israel`s leading newspapers were of the opinion that Turkey was ineligible to do anything in the deal. This was after many persons from the top leadership of Hamas were noticed to be in Turkey by an Israeli TV channel.
In any case, negotiations were stopped after the execution of six hostages in August, which included Israeli-American captive Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
While a glimmer of hope was raised when Hamas Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar was assassinated, Donald Trump`s re-election has put a dampener on a possible deal. The present presidency finds itself in a dilemma, as the time period for the negotiations is too short when Biden will leave the White House on January 20th.
A deal nowhere in sight
Before Defense Minister Israel Katz held a consultation regarding the hostages with top defense echelons in his department, a mini-deal of sorts was rejected by Hamas. The deal, along with other peace offers by the US officials with an objective of confidence-building steps, had been declined by the organization. It was to be followed by a larger and more meaningful deal in the future.
Accusing Israel of its dilly-dally approach to solving the hostage crisis, Hamas spokesperson Basem Naim told one of the news channels, “We are ready to release all these captured Israelis if they would swap Hamas prisoners in Israeli jails. The last brokered deal was in July, but since then, there have not been any serious proposals.”
While Israel seems to be in an uncompromising mood regarding complete withdrawal from Gaza, Hamas stresses the same as a pre-condition to a quick ceasefire. But Qatar isn’t too keen to mediate given the non-serious approach between both. Also, the US confirmed ‘on the face of it’ Doha’s reported displeasure with the organization while ordering it to leave the country.
