When asked on September 2 what made him believe a deal to end the war in Gaza would be successful, President Joe Biden answered in a way that revealed just how desperate the U.S.-led mediation effort has become: “Hope springs eternal.”
How Biden can find even a morsel of hope at this point is difficult to grasp. CIA Director Bill Burns was far more level-headed about the endgame in Gaza, stressing that Israel and Hamas will need to come to difficult political compromises if talks are to work out. So far that hasn’t happened. Even the efforts of the most dedicated mediators can fall flat if the main protagonists have no intention of moving from their core positions.
The United States is learning in real time what it should have known already: What the mediators want is largely irrelevant if the combatants are content with staring each other down and waiting for the other to blink.
To some, this observation will sound a bit premature. Technically, the negotiations aren’t dead yet. Neither Israel nor Hamas has officially pulled out of the discussions, if only because neither side wants to be blamed for sabotaging a diplomatic initiative the U.S. and its partners in Qatar and Egypt have spent so much capital on. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meanwhile, spent part of this week in Egypt, his tenth trip to the Middle East since the war started. And at least rhetorically, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar are stressing that a deal remains possible.
Author
More on Middle East
Events on Israel-Hamas
