Rome talks reveal Netanyahu does not want a deal: Hamas

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Hamas Media Office
29 Jul 2024 18:58
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Mediators who met with Israeli and US officials find that the Israeli Prime Minister has imposed new demands and retracted previous clauses.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a special cabinet meeting in occupied al-Quds, in occupied Palestine, on June 2, 2016. (AP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is relying on a strategy of "delay" evading an agreement with the Palestinian Resistance, the Islamic Resistance Movement said based on the reports by the mediators regarding the ongoing talks.

Hamas released a statement on Monday, revealing some of the details behind the Rome Meeting, which took place between representatives from the Israeli occupation, the United States, Qatar, and Egypt in the Italian capital.

The Palestinian movement said that Netanyahu has returned to a "strategy of procrastination, delay, and evasion," evident by the messages relayed by mediators following the meeting.

It said that the Israeli Prime Minister set new conditions and demands in the recent meeting, which retracted several clauses proposed by Israeli negotiators in previous talks.

The recent demands of the Israeli government go against US President Joe Biden's proposed deal and the ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal called for by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in June.

Israeli regime seeks to undermine months-worth of mediated talks

Hamas views the quadrilateral meetings held in Rome between the Israeli occupation as part of a broader strategy by the Israeli regime to delay reaching a lasting agreement and gain further advantages, a high-ranking source in the Palestinian Resistance told Al Mayadeen on Sunday.

The Israeli occupation is heading toward proposing a new plan that undermines what has been negotiated over the past six months, the source added at the time.

He stated that the outcome of the Rome meetings indicates that "Israel" is not genuinely interested in the negotiation process and instead aims to intensify its criminal activities in Gaza.

On the other hand, Israeli officials expressed pessimism regarding the meeting to Axios, criticizing Netanyahu's approach as "impossible" to achieve.

"[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu wants a deal that is impossible to get. At the moment, he isn't willing to move and therefore we might be headed for a crisis in the negotiations rather than a deal," an Israeli official said as per Axios.

According to Axios, Israeli negotiators were pessimistic about the outcome of the Rome conference and did not believe that pressure from Biden on Netanyahu had persuaded him to back down from some of his new, strong demands in the revised Israeli proposal.