Someone please tell me that this was already known within the Biden administration. Tell me that multiparty negotiations were urged by a top public relations firm only as diplomatic window dressing. And tell me that the Middle East visit that Secretary of State Blinken had announced and has now canceled was just that: a visit for visit's sake, a chance, perhaps, to do a bit of sightseeing, since there'd be nothing else to do.
Because this above-the-fold NY Times story revealing Machiavellian deception in the mind and body of Bibi — according to unpublished documents! — reads like a thrice-read novella.
"For weeks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has denied that he is trying to block a cease-fire deal in Gaza by hardening Israel’s negotiating position. Mr. Netanyahu has consistently placed all blame for the deadlocked negotiations on Hamas....
"But in private, Mr. Netanyahu has, in fact, added new conditions to Israel’s demands.... Israel relayed a list of new stipulations in late July to American, Egyptian and Qatari mediators that added less flexible conditions to a set of principles it had made in late May."
Hamas, for sure, can't always be trusted as an honest negotiator: it has had a few wrenches of its own to throw into the works. But, as The Times further reports, the documents "make clear that the behind-the-scenes maneuvering by the Netanyahu government has been extensive."
Among the complicating conditions belatedly introduced and reintroduced by Netanyahu is that the Israeli military will remain in southern Gaza. That surely translates into Arabic as "permanently occupying force."
Another haggling point is that Palestinians who've been displaced in the north might be barred by Israel from returning home under certain conditions. On its face, this demand is so remarkably unreasonable, it alone could shut down talks for good — which, as has been apparent for months, is the Israeli prime minister's objective.
For reasons I've never quite grasped, news stories that "expose" the universally known require a short passage of enchanting understatement. The Times story is no exception. "Some members of the Israeli negotiating team fear that the new additions risked scuppering the deal." Which is like saying the Germans risked losing the war when the Russians entered Berlin.
Scuppering — to put a stop to — is chiefly a British verb that comes from the seemingly unrelated noun, scupper — an opening in a ship's side for water to flow overboard. When writing about Israel's deal-making amenability, I'd say the noun is more suitable for use. Ab ovo, Netanyahu has had a huge hole in his head that's been bleeding credibility all over the negotiating table.
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