It appears that the Palestinian resistance factions are working to establish new rules of engagement unless the mediators and guarantors succeed in obliging Israel to respect the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.
A high level delegation from the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) held talks in the Egyptian capital Cairo on Sunday, covering the implementation of the second phase of the agreement and the current situation in the Strip.
According to the movement’s spokesperson Hazem Qassem, the delegation discussed with the Egyptian Intelligence Chief Hassan Rashad issues including obliging Israel to stop its violations that threaten to undermine the agreement. Qassem described the tracks of the second phase as complex.
The delegation also stressed, according to a statement issued by the movement, the need for the international stabilisation force that is planned to be formed to be placed between the Palestinians and the occupation forces.
According to writer and political analyst Ahmad Al Tanani, these discussions came because the resistance senses that Israel wants to prolong the first phase of the agreement unless it can impose a specific agenda on the second phase.
Israel, Al Tanani said in an interview with Al Jazeera, is trying to maintain a state of neither war nor peace, allowing it to reframe its aggression on the Strip under the umbrella of the agreement.
The visit of the Hamas delegation to Cairo was not ceremonial, given its composition, which included the head of its leadership council Muhammad Darwish, Khaled Meshaal, Khalil Al Hayya, Nizar Awadallah, Ghazi Hamad, and Zahir Jabarin, reflecting the resistance’s desire to settle the matter, according to Al Tanani.
The arrival of the Hamas delegation to Cairo coincided with the presence of leaders of the Popular Front and Islamic Jihad, which signals a consensus among the factions on the necessity of ending the situation Israel seeks to impose, according to the same commentator.
The Palestinian analyst expected that the coming stage will witness a different approach by the resistance toward Israeli violations, which he said cannot be allowed to pass without a field response by the Palestinians or a political response by the mediators and guarantors.
At the same time, Al Tanani expected the resistance to set new rules of engagement with the occupation forces in the Strip, while stressing that it will continue its policy of eliminating pretexts in the current phase in the hope of consolidating the agreement, which it sees as serving Palestinian interests in full.
Al Tanani believes that the resistance discussed with the Egyptians the issue of Hamas relinquishing the administration of the Strip and transferring it to a Palestinian committee, in order to shut down all the pretexts used by the occupation to continue expanding its aggression both militarily and humanitarianly, noting that the factions will not remain in a reactive position for long.
A Message to Hamas
In this context, the expert on Israeli affairs Adel Shdeid said that the Israelis treat their violations as part of the agreement, which they believe grants them the right to bomb, destroy, and impose humanitarian blackmail.
The Israeli army is pressuring the political leadership to keep it in the Strip without bearing responsibility for managing civilian life, which it wants to transfer to an entity that will be created in some form, according to Shdeid.
The government of Benjamin Netanyahu still adopts the goals of the war, including displacement and settlement, despite the reduced pace of fighting. A large segment within this government believes that reducing aid and expanding operations will push people toward what they call “voluntary migration”, according to Shdeid.
On this basis, Shdeid expects violations to increase in the coming period, relying on American acceptance of them, especially since Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, “is trying to present himself as the sole decision maker in Gaza, despite everyone knowing that the Americans are the actual decision makers”.
Shdeid concluded that Netanyahu “wants to send a clear message to Hamas that it is not stronger than Hezbollah, upon which Israel imposed a certain reality”, and that Israel “will impose the same reality in Gaza” unless the United States intervenes to halt this course.
