Arnon Grunberg

Care

Result

On the second phase – Amir Tibon in Haaretz:

‘Then, the second phase of the deal is supposed to start, during which Israel will receive the remaining living hostages − mostly men under age 50 − in return for a completion of its withdrawal from Gaza. Last but not least, there will be an exchange of dead bodies between Israel and Hamas that will mark the final and official end of the war.

But a different version of the deal appears in statements and briefings published by Netanyahu's office and his media loyalists. In this version, phase 2 of the deal is a dead letter, and Israel is hell-bent on renewing the war after the completion of phase 1, even at the cost of sacrificing its male hostages.
Don't take my word for it – trust Netanyahu's own aides and confidantes − like his chief of staff, Yossi Fuchs, who wrote on Wednesday that the deal "includes the option to resume the fighting at the end of phase 1 if the negotiations over phase 2 don't develop in a manner that promises the fulfillment of the war's goals: military and civil annihilation of Hamas and a release of all hostages.
Read these lines again, and ask yourself: how can phase two of the deal – during which Israel is supposed to completely withdraw from Gaza in return for the release of all remaining hostages – lead to the "military annihilation" of Hamas? Obviously, it can't, and Netanyahu's top aide is basically saying that if this is the result, the war will be renewed.
Similar messaging already began appearing on Tuesday afternoon in media outlets supportive of Netanyahu. Amit Segal, Netanyahu's mouthpiece on Channel 12, wrote a long post explaining that phase 1 of the deal is necessary to provide President-elect Donald Trump with an achievement ahead of his return to the Oval Office, but that Trump doesn't truly care about ending the war and will not object to Israel walking away from phase 2.’

Read the article here.

So Netanyahu’s mouthpieces claim that the deal was just a small gift to Trump for his inauguration.

And the second part of the deal might already be a dead letter.

We will learn soon, as Tibon writes, whether the incoming US president has any interest in disciplining Netanyahu.

Or after a brief lull it will be, the war and the quagmire all over again.

Without a solution for the Palestinians it will be quagmire all over again.

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