Hamas’ yes on Trump’s plan comes with many conditions

Did Hamas give his yes? Judging by reactions from world leaders there is peace in air, now that the militant group in the first instance has responded positively to Donald Trump’s plan for a cease-fire. The US President himself has Hamas’s response received as an important step On the way to peace.

French President Emmanuel Macron calls on the parties to immediately take next steps. They also seem to be coming: Trumps envoy Steve Witkoff is on the way to Egypt to negotiate peace. The Israeli government announced on Saturday morning that it prepared for ‘immediate implementation’ of the first phase of Trumps plans to get the hostages free.

At the same time, there is also skepticism about what exactly Hamas has promised. The group’s response “asks some further studies,” said NATO CEO Mark Rutte yesterday News hour. “I can’t fully estimate whether this is enough. You have to read the small print very well.” Hamas, according to the former prime minister, consists of ‘very shown boys’.

Those small print are also well studied in Jerusalem. Trumps reaction would have surprised Benjamin Netanyahu, several media report: The Israeli Prime Minister sees Hamas’ answer as a rejection. Hamas really only agrees with some of the first points from Trumps twenty -point plan.

Incomplete and conditional

Hamas’ statement is a yes-“albeit a very incomplete and conditional” yes, writes BBC analyst Lyse Doucet. In his statement, Hamas writes, under certain conditions, to transfer all hostages and the bodies of deceased hostages “according to the exchange formula in President Trump’s proposal”, but the rest of his reaction goes directly against the other points of Trumps plan.

For example, Hamas speaks of the ‘completely retirement’ of the Israeli army from Gaza. That is a condition that was just missing in Trump’s plan, which only speaks in vague terms of a phased withdrawal of Israel and also allows Israeli presence in buffer zones indefinitely.

Hamas remains silent about the American requirement that it is disabled. It does see a role for itself in discussions about the future of Gaza and the “Rights of the Palestinian people” – which clashes with the commandment in Trumps plan that Hamas “does not play any role, directly or indirectly, with the Gaza board”.

In this way Hamas mirrors the performance of Netanyahu in the White House at the start of the week. Then the Israeli Prime Minister agreed to a plan that, according to insiders, looked substantially different than the proposal that was on the table earlier – and to which Arab countries had given their blessing in the days before. In the meantime, Israel managed to adjust various points – including those about the withdrawal of his army – to his advantage.

Zoom in

Hamas now seems to do the same. It goes ‘agreement’ with another – own – version of the deal. The commitment of Hamas to release the hostages is rather an opening bid for further negotiations. It remains unclear when the group would release the hostages and whether it will even if there is no agreement on the other points.

Earlier, Arab countries also hinted that they still want to influence the precise conditions. The plan is still fluid.

Gap

Trump chooses to recover the reactions from both sides as a breakthrough. At the same time, Hamas’s reaction makes it clear that there is still a gap gap between the views of the warring parties. In the ceasefire at the beginning of this year, Hamas also agreed with a-stepped-release of hostages, but the piece on the Israeli refusal to definitively stop the fight.

In his official response, Hamas says nothing about the demand for disarmament. But Hamas officer Moussa Abu Marzouk told Al Jazeera on Friday that the group only lays down its weapons when Israel terminates the occupation of Palestinian territory, as the country that has also been dedicated from the International Court of Justice. That is not negotiable for Netanyahu, and the occupation of the West Bank does not appear in the plan at all.

On the other hand, Israel also does not seem inclined to adhere to the conditions of the plan in advance. Trump had called on his ally to stop the combat acts immediately, but last night the Gazan civil protection reported dozens of air strikes and artillery shoots, resulting in at least six deaths. News site AXIOS reports that the Israeli army says that it is limited to defensive actions.

Trump seems benevolent to start the conversation with Hamas. That conversation will not be easy. In a sense, the situation is not much different than at the beginning of this year: the minimum requirements of one party are still non -negotiable for the other.

The difference is that there has been a broad international coalition behind the plan. Moreover, the US and the Arab countries exert enormous pressure on Israel and Hamas. Both the Israeli population and the Palestinians in Gaza also want an end to the war.

It would therefore have been very difficult for Hamas to sell if it had immediately rejected the plan. Nobody wants to be the party that lets the negotiations clap. The conversations with Trump must now show whether the position of Hamas is more than a polite rejection of the conditions.

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