{"id":71665,"date":"2024-06-12T23:53:07","date_gmt":"2024-06-12T23:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/12\/blinken-calls-hamas-changes-to-cease-fire-proposal-unworkable\/"},"modified":"2024-06-12T23:53:07","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T23:53:07","slug":"blinken-calls-hamas-changes-to-cease-fire-proposal-unworkable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/12\/blinken-calls-hamas-changes-to-cease-fire-proposal-unworkable\/","title":{"rendered":"Blinken Calls Hamas Changes to Cease-Fire Proposal Unworkable"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/12\/multimedia\/12mideast-1-mgch\/12mideast-1-mgch-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Blinken Calls Hamas Changes to Cease-Fire Proposal Unworkable\" title=\"Blinken Calls Hamas Changes to Cease-Fire Proposal Unworkable\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said on Wednesday that he would continue to press urgently for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip despite a counterproposal from Hamas that he said included unacceptable demands.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After more than eight months of war in Gaza, the proposed cease-fire deal follows an outline made public last month by President Biden and has the endorsement of the United Nations Security Council. But Israel and Hamas still appear to be far from reaching a deal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIn the days ahead, we are going to push on an urgent basis,\u201d Mr. Blinken said, \u201cto try and close this deal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Speaking at a news conference in Doha, Qatar, alongside Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who serves as both Qatar\u2019s prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, Mr. Blinken said that \u201ca deal was on the table that was virtually identical\u201d to one that Hamas put forward on May 6.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Hamas\u2019s response, he said, which was received by Egyptian and Qatari mediators and passed to American officials on Tuesday, makes demands that \u201cgo beyond positions that it had previously taken and accepted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cSome of the changes are workable, some are not,\u201d Mr. Blinken said. He declined to disclose details about the Hamas counterproposal but suggested that the group\u2019s changing demands called into question its negotiators\u2019 sincerity. At some point, he said, \u201cyou have to question whether they\u2019re proceeding in good faith or not.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Two senior members of Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards Corps who have been briefed on the details of Hamas\u2019s response said on Wednesday that Hamas was demanding that Russia, China and Turkey serve as guarantors and be signatories to a cease-fire deal. The Revolutionary Guard members also said that Hamas had told Qatari and Turkish officials that it did not trust the United States as a mediator because of the role <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/08\/world\/middleeast\/us-intelligence-israel-hostage-rescue.html?searchResultPosition=1\" title=\"\">U.S. intelligence<\/a> played in assisting the Israelis in the operation to free four hostages over the weekend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">While Mr. Biden said the plan was drawn up by Israel, the Israeli government has yet to publicly accept it, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that he will not stop the war until he achieves his oft-stated goal of destroying Hamas\u2019s governing and military capabilities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The proposed deal calls for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and then, after the release of some Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, talks that could lead to a much longer or even permanent cease-fire, an Israeli withdrawal and the reconstruction of Gaza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Qatar and Egypt have acted as intermediaries between Israel and Hamas, which do not communicate directly with each other.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Blinken said the United States would unveil proposals \u201cin the coming weeks\u201d that it has been developing with partners in the region to address Gaza\u2019s governance, security and reconstruction. He spoke on the last stop of a three-day tour of the Middle East, his eighth trip to the region since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As Mr. Blinken was departing the region, tensions were escalating along Israel\u2019s northern border. On Wednesday, Hezbollah, the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/10\/19\/world\/middleeast\/hezbollah-lebanon-israel-explained.html\" title=\"\">powerful Lebanese militia and political movement<\/a> backed by Iran, launched 215 rockets into northern Israel in retaliation for an Israeli strike late on Tuesday that killed a senior commander of Hezbollah.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The commander, Taleb Abdallah, also known as Abu Taleb, was among the highest-ranking members of Hezbollah to have been killed since Hezbollah mounted cross-border attacks in support of Hamas after its Oct. 7 attacks that set off the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Hezbollah claimed attacks on a string of military bases, including on Mount Meron, an area housing a military radar station that is about five miles south of the border. Hezbollah also claimed to have struck an arms factory belonging to Plasan, a manufacturer of armored vehicles used by the Israeli military.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There were no immediate reports of casualties from the Hezbollah rocket barrages, the Israeli military said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Hezbollah\u2019s rocket attacks have already forced thousands of Israelis to flee the border areas, and Israeli officials have threatened to pursue decisive military action in response to any severe attacks. The militia, for its part, has vowed to keep up the fight, raising fresh concerns that the months of low-level conflict could grow into a larger war on Israel\u2019s northern border.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Speaking at Mr. Abdallah\u2019s funeral in Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs, Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah\u2019s executive council, pledged that the group would double down on its attacks against Israel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf the enemy\u2019s message is to retreat from our position in supporting the oppressed in Gaza, then he must know that our answer is final,\u201d Mr. Safieddine said. \u201cWe will increase the intensity, quantity and quality of our operations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Reacting to the escalation on the Israeli-Lebanon border, Mr. Blinken said he believed neither side would welcome a larger war. He called it \u201csafe to say that actually no one is working to start a war, or to have escalation,\u201d and that \u201cthere\u2019s a strong preference for a diplomatic solution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The best way to calm tensions along Lebanon\u2019s border with Israel, he said, would be a cease-fire in Gaza, which he said would \u201ctake a tremendous amount of pressure out of the system\u201d and remove Hezbollah\u2019s claimed justification for attacking Israel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Reporting was contributed by <!-- -->Farnaz Fassihi<!-- -->, <!-- -->Aaron Boxerman<!-- -->, <!-- -->Adam Rasgon<!-- --> and <!-- -->Abu Bakr Bashir<!-- -->.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/12\/world\/middleeast\/israel-hamas-gaza-cease-fire-blinken.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said on Wednesday that he would continue to press urgently for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip despite a counterproposal from Hamas that he said included unacceptable demands. After more than eight months of war in Gaza, the proposed cease-fire deal follows an outline [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/12\/multimedia\/12mideast-1-mgch\/12mideast-1-mgch-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7273,1187,7275,5552,22022,66153],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71665"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71665"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71667,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71665\/revisions\/71667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}