Qatar says awaiting 'clear position' from 'Israel' on Biden Gaza plan
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The spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry says his country has yet to see "a very clear position" from the Israeli government toward the plan laid out by Biden.
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Majed al-Ansari, Advisor to the Prime Minister and Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar, is attending the panel discussion on State Agency and Multilateral Institutions in Times of Multipolarity at the Doha Forum in the Doha Sheraton Hotel in Doha, Qatar, on December 11, 2023. (AFP)
Mediator Qatar said Tuesday it was waiting for a "clear position" from "Israel" on a proposed Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal outlined by US President Joe Biden.
"We have yet to see a very clear position from the Israeli government towards the principles laid out by Biden," Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said, adding that there was no "concrete approval" from either side.
"We have read and seen the contradictory statements coming in from Israeli ministers, which doesn't give us much confidence of there being a unified position in Israel over this current proposal on the table," al-Ansari told a regular press conference.
The Palestinian movement Hamas has also yet to give a firm response, the official added.
However, he confirmed that "the process is progressing and we have been working with both sides on proposals on the table."
Qatar, with the US and Egypt, has been engaged in months of back-and-forth negotiations over details for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal.
US President Joe Biden on Friday presented what he described as a three-phase Israeli proposal toward a full ceasefire.
According to Biden, the plan would begin with a six-week phase that would see Israeli forces withdraw from all populated areas of Gaza and an initial prisoner exchange.
Hamas and "Israel" would then negotiate for a lasting ceasefire, with the truce to continue as long as talks are ongoing.
In its final phase, the plan would lead to the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip without Hamas in power, Biden said.
On Monday, the White House said Biden told the emir of Qatar that he saw Hamas as "the only obstacle to a complete ceasefire" in Gaza and urged him to press the Palestinian Resistance group to accept it.
But it is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office that stressed that any suggestion of "Israel" agreeing to a permanent ceasefire before "the destruction of Hamas' military and governing capabilities" was "a non-starter," and it is Netanyahu's extremist ministers who are threatening to leave the government if the premier accepts the deal.
Hamas previously said it "views positively" the ceasefire proposal laid out by the US president and confirmed its readiness to "deal positively and in a constructive manner" with any proposal that is based on a permanent ceasefire and the full withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from the Gaza Strip.
Read more: Ceasefire talks contingent on Israeli approval: Hamas Offic.-Exclusive
