Egypt has apparently tabled a long-term plan for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas with the current 72-hour truce set to expire at midnight.
Egypt is pushing the Israelis and Palestinians to extend the cease-fire past its current deadline, a senior Egyptian government official told CNN on Wednesday.
"This is a very sensitive time in the negotiations, and it's hard to predict the outcome at this point," said the official, who asked not to be identified because he's not authorized to speak the media about the talks.
Delegations have held indirect talks through Egyptian mediators in Cairo for the past two days, but in the absence of any official comment, there have been conflicting reports over whether any progress has been made.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday postponed a meeting of the security cabinet, a possible indication that there have been no diplomatic developments.
However, it is widely reported this morning that Egypt has presented the delegations with a suggested framework for a long-term ceasefire. According to Associated Press, under the plan, Israel would immediately end air strikes on Gaza and reduce the size of the buffer zone along the border. However, the Egyptian plan would postpone discussions on the most contentious issues, including the disarmament of the Gaza Strip as demanded by Israel and Hamas’s request for a removal of restrictions on movement in and out of Gaza.
There is also reportedly disagreement on Hamas’s demands for construction of a sea and airport, which Israel wants to link to demilitarisation.
It is also thought that the Palestinian Authority (PA) could have a significant role to play in an agreement by controlling the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. Haaretz reported that disagreement over supervision of borders and the goods permitted between them is also among the key issues on which disagreement remains.
The diplomatic situation appears delicately poised, especially with the current 72-hour truce ending at midnight. 4
Israel’s Finance Minister Yair Lapid told Channel Two “It is possible that the fighting will begin again at midnight,” as the gaps between the two sides remain “wide.”
Israel’s Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon also warned that “it could be that fire erupts again.” However, Haaretz quoted an unnamed source close to the Cairo talks, saying, “The debate is mainly over the wording, not over the fundamental positions.”
Israeli leaders suggest range of lasting Gaza solutions
Prominent Israeli leaders have floated their own ideas over how to establish a secure, durable and sustainable future in Gaza without Hamas at the helm.
Earlier this week, Finance Minister and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid proposed a diplomatic initiative, which would aim to “demilitarize Gaza and the transfer of authority in the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority while maintaining Israel’s strategic security interest.” L
Lapid also called for Egypt to host an international conference, involving global powers, plus “moderate Arab states including Saudi Arabia” in order to “provide economic support for the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip.”
However, according to the Times of Israel, an Israel Foreign Ministry official called the idea of involving Saudi Arabia “pure science fiction.”
Meanwhile, towards the end of last week, Justice Minister and Hatnuah leader Tzipi Livni presented her own plan for the future of Gaza. She proposed a multi-stage plan which would begin with a cessation of hostilities, prior to huge assistance to reconstruct the Gaza Strip before recognising the Palestinian Authority (PA) as the sovereign authority in Gaza and an eventual resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Livni told Channel Two, “A peace agreement would not be with Hamas, but against it. Which is why what I propose presents a new [Gaza] order, with Egypt, with Israel, with the Palestinian Authority and with other regional countries.”
Also last week, Foreign Minister and Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Lieberman floated the idea of asking the United Nations (UN) to become the custodian of the Gaza Strip.
Speaking to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, Lieberman said “One idea is an international mandate of the United Nations,” saying that such arrangements in East Timor and Kosovo were examples where, “We saw UN mandates working, and they worked not bad.”