Israeli daily Haaretz offers new details about Tuesday’s aborted ceasefire, which one unnamed minister describes as a “ceasefire with ourselves.”
The paper reports that despite assurances to Israel, Egypt failed to coordinate the offer to Hamas in any serious way, and drafted the agreement only in consultation with Israel.
“When a member of the Israeli team asked whether Hamas would agree to the terms of the initiative, the Egyptians tried to reassure him, saying that if Israel agreed, Hamas would have no choice but to do the same,” the paper reports. “In reality, the opposite occurred. The Egyptians gave Hamas’ political leadership minimal information and didn’t communicate with members of its military wing at all.”
According to Palestinian sources cited in the report, Hamas stepped up attacks on Israel on Tuesday to improve its bargaining position.
The paper also notes that the offer of US Secretary of State John Kerry to visit the region to push the deal was rejected by both Egypt and Israel, but still managed to put diplomatic efforts into overdrive.
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From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
