Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

How the Gaza ceasefire was carefully, quietly negotiated — and almost fell apart

'Biden plans to send $8bn arms shipment to Israel"

By Lucia Stein, Rebecca Armitage and Toby Mann
8h ago
[...]
After Biden detailed the terms of an agreement 15 months in the making, the soon to be departed president was pressed on who would be credited in the history books for orchestrating the agreement.

Biden turned, smiled and replied: "Is that a joke?"

The dismissive answer followed months of quiet, painstaking work on behalf of the president and his administration.

Officials from the United States, Egypt and Qatar have delicately worked behind the scenes, sometimes against all odds, to broker peace between Israel and Hamas.

Each time it appeared as if the two parties were inching closer to an agreement, the deal would fall spectacularly apart.

Both sides have blamed each other for the delays in getting a deal over the line. Israel raised doubts about Hamas's willingness to compromise, while critics say that in recent months, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly sought to change the goalposts.

The terms of this new agreement are not that different from eight months ago, when they were first presented in a proposal by Biden, but the passage of time has wrought a change in circumstances for both sides.
[...]
Trump was quick to claim credit for the ceasefire agreement, announcing it well before official word came from the White House.

Biden, on the other hand, described the combined efforts of his and Trump's aides as the work of "one team".
[...]

In reality, a swirling nexus of mounting IDF casualties, increasing pressure on Netanyahu to release the hostages, and the ticking clock on the Biden administration forced all relevant parties into action.

"From the perspective of Israel's government, expectations that the incoming administration will offer strong support for Jerusalem on a host of issues — e.g. confronting Iran, cementing relations with Saudi Arabia, and supporting Jewish settlement in the West Bank —provided extra impetus to placate Trump," said Shalom Lipner, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative.

Meanwhile, Biden wanted one last win before leaving office, while Trump did not want to inherit the vexing question of what to do about this awful, seemingly intractable war.

And so, two men who have openly despised each other in the past directed their staff to work together to get this deal done.

Trump and Biden's teams 'deserve credit'

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-18/gaza-ceasefire-hostage-deal-negotiated-by-trump-biden-netanyahu/104826566

**

What pushed the deal over the line this past week was the unlikely partnership between the envoys of America’s current and future presidents, working in tandem with the Qatari prime minister in marathon late-night meetings. While Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump have competed for credit, the reality is that their representatives were both crucial to the final push, each using different approaches to push the Israeli leadership toward a deal while Sheikh Mohammed focused on Hamas.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/17/world/middleeast/gaza-truce-negotiations.html