The Electronic Intifada livestream today, which began at noon ET and continues till around 3:00, features Palestinians from Gaza and Jeremy Scahill of Drop Site News, who has reported extensively on the talks.
MOUIN RABBANI, mouinrabbani@gmail.
Rabbani has published and commented widely on Palestinian affairs and the contemporary Middle East. He is co-editor of Jadaliyya and just wrote the piece “Key Points and Prospects of the Israeli-Palestinian Agreement.”
He said today: “Never forget that during two entire years of genocide, Western governments devoted their resources to silencing and punishing its critics in order to protect and shield the perpetrators.”
His recent piece states: “While it is likely to save numerous lives, at least for the time being, and should be welcomed for that reason alone, it is hardly a peace agreement nor one that lays the basis for attaining Palestinian rights.
“A little over a week ago U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu unveiled their proposal for the Gaza Strip at the White House. Consisting of 20 points, it incorporated significant revisions to the 21 point plan agreed between the U.S. and a number of Arab and Muslim leaders several days previously. “The revised Trump-Netanyahu proposal for example removed any reference to the West Bank, deleted the clause committing Israel to refrain from further acts of aggression against Qatar, called for the disarmament of Hamas, and appointed Tony Blair as the governor of the Gaza Strip. … Hamas gave Washington a response that ignored the demand for unconditional surrender yet was accepted by the U.S. …
“Given that Israel was able to effortlessly repudiate the January agreement brokered by de facto U.S. Secretary of State Steve Witkoff and do so with Washington’s full support, Hamas insisted that Trump personally announce and guarantee the implementation of the new agreement. This it achieved, and Trump may travel to the region to bask in its glory, but as with every other commitment Trump has ever provided, to anyone about anything, it is essentially worthless.”
“Plan B is to engage Hamas in an Oslo-like process of endless negotiations about nothing, with an even lower political ceiling than the agreement that brought the PLO to the brink of death. …
“The details of the captive exchange remain unclear. If Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat are among those released from Israel’s occupation prison system, it will be a big achievement for Hamas and for the Palestinian people more generally. If neither these leaders nor prominent Hamas captives are freed, it will spell a significant failure for the movement.”