The Middle East being the Middle East, it was probably foolish to believe or even hope that the broad support for President Trump’s Gaza peace plan meant the end of the war was near.
By Saturday, the only certainty was that a new round of complex negotiations would be needed.
Predictably, Hamas is to blame.
The terror group made it perfectly clear it’s in no hurry to end the war it started almost exactly two years ago.
Proof that Hamas wants peace on the back burner came via its response to a demand from Trump that it meet a Sunday deadline for accepting his entire 20-point plan.
The alternative, he said, would be to face “all hell like no one has ever seen before.”
The peace plan had been immediately and enthusiastically endorsed by Israel and numerous Arab and Muslim countries, including Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which is Hamas’ leading funder and protector.
The impressive lineup of international support, including from European leaders, created a sense of momentum and offered a roadmap and a tight timetable that seemingly put a settlement within reach.
The detailed terms, including a plan for keeping the peace, also spoke to the enormous effort Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner put into satisfying potential objections.
Hamas, of course, was always going to be the biggest obstacle.
Its very existence is based on a charter calling for the elimination of Israel, and so it never pushed for a cease-fire, despite vast suffering from Gaza civilians.
Agree and disagree
Similarly, it has shown no interest in even discussing a complete settlement.
To do so would be seen as effectively accepting Israel’s right to exist, and that is the jihadists’ nightmare.
That’s why the group’s surviving leaders found themselves isolated by the detailed and popular plan for ending the war.
In theory, Qatar’s backing gives Hamas no safe harbor, financially or diplomatically, if it rejects the deal and aims to keep the pot boiling.
That reality helped to propel hopes that the Trump plan could achieve what had been widely regarded as impossible.
With Tuesday marking the two-year anniversary of the savage Hamas invasion of Israel and the taking of hostages, the timing seemed right for a permanent settlement.
Yet with its first response to the plan on Friday, Hamas managed to boost hopes for peace and simultaneously dash them.
It did that by agreeing to the provision for an immediate release of the hostages in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life terms in Israeli prisons.
Otherwise, however, Hamas ducked giving straight answers to the other points and instead demanded more negotiations on them.
Even allowing for the fact that a hostage release alone would be a major achievement that would signal that a key deadlock had been broken, I was surprised that Trump had a wildly bullish reaction to the truncated Hamas’ response.
After all, it fell far short of his warning that the group had to agree to the whole deal by Sunday or pay a painful price.
Instead, late Friday, the president was so exuberant that he declared the Hamas response a breakthrough, saying on Truth Social that “I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE.”
‘Quickly, or else’
Perhaps he knew something that wasn’t public, but the Hamas statement did not convey anything close to what could be called a commitment to peace and it fell far short of embracing Trump’s entire deal.
More surprisingly, Trump stuck with his upbeat interpretation and handed Hamas a gift when he demanded that “Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly! Right now, it’s far too dangerous to do that.”
From there, he expanded the possibilities, exclaiming that “this is not about Gaza alone, this is about long sought PEACE in the Middle East.”
If only.
By Saturday afternoon, the president came back to earth and expressed a very different conclusion, namely that Hamas was still playing a delaying game and that its Friday response was woefully inadequate.
My only surprise is that he didn’t see the obvious truth earlier.
Whatever the reason, writing Saturday on Truth Social, the president reinstated the original Sunday deadline by saying that Hamas had to release the hostages within the 72-hour window initially outlined in the plan, “or else.”
At the same time, he said he appreciated Israel’s temporary suspension of bombing “in order to give the Hostage release and Peace Deal a chance to be completed.”
He also asserted that “Hamas must move quickly, or else all bets will be off,” adding that:
“I will not tolerate delay, which many think will happen, or any outcome where Gaza poses a threat again. Let’s get this done, FAST.”
That’s more like it, and the president, realizing he needed to get the momentum back on track, quickly dispatched Witkoff and Kushner to Egypt, for the new talks.
He reportedly also told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “this is your chance for victory.’
20-couterpoint plan
To be clear, I hope that Trump is correct in believing the deal will be accepted by Hamas and lead to a settlement.
But it’s also possible that his wish for a deal is so strong that he is giving Hamas far more credit than it deserves.
Indeed, it’s not impossible that Hamas’ dodgy Friday answer was the first step in a strategy to kill the plan slowly by objecting to each and every one of the 20 points.
If that happens, Israel will not be able to achieve final victory in Gaza anytime soon, and Hamas commanders will survive the war and set the stage for keeping their dominant governing position afterwards.
They could achieve that if they can defeat Trump’s plan by a strategy of endless negotiation.
Because Iran and Hezbollah have been defanged, Hamas cannot win the war — it can only keep it going.
One avenue of hope for its bloodthirsty leaders is the ramping up of international pressure on Israel to reach a settlement in Gaza and allow the creation of a Palestinian state, with Hamas keeping its governing role.
Not surprisingly, the current stalemate has given some American media outlets and quisling European leaders enough ammunition to suggest that Israel and Hamas are equally guilty of slowing down the momentum for peace.
Because only Hamas has failed to accept the full plan, to even raise a both-sidesism argument is to equate the terrorist invader with the victim.
There’s been too much of that already, especially at the recent UN session, where Netanyahu spoke forcefully to an audience of empty chairs as most delegates boycotted his speech.
Such events underscore a harsh reality and the need for Trump to keep squeezing Hamas.
Nobody else will do it because America is Israel’s only true friend and ally.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
