A few 24 hours before his inauguration and a few 24 hours after the new president’s threats to “hell” in the Middle East, the ceasefire agreement in its Land, “closed”. The timing allows both governments to boast of their role at the end of the war but who will reap the credit? The agreement between Israel and Hamas on ceasefire in the Gaza Strip comes at a time of transition of power to the US by Donald Trump. CORVERSE Well-informed sources point out that the co-operation of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for the Middle East, Steve Whitkov and President Biden’s envoy for the Middle East, Brett McGerk, was key to bringing about the final and coveted deal in Gaza. After 15 months of war of unstoppable bombings, tens of thousands dead and displaced, and 96 hours of intensive negotiations in Doha, Israel and Hamas seem to have decided that the time has come for the second time to silence arms in the Palestinian enclave. Although the deal is a product of months of negotiations, the impending change of government in the US in some way acted as an unofficial deadline and “fuel” to consolidate the agreement, the Wall Street Journal notes, citing current and former officials. ADVERSE ‘We have an agreement on the hostages in the Middle East. They’ll be moving soon. Thank you! “ Trump announced on Wednesday at Truth Social. A second post followed in which he argued that the deal would not be possible without his victory in the November election. American President Joe Biden announced that Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire and hostage-release agreement specifying however that the deal was reached in partnership with the Trump team. “Today, after many months of intensive diplomacy on behalf of the US, along with Egypt and Qatar, Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire agreement for both hostages. This agreement will stop the fighting in Gaza, increase the most necessary humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians and reunite the hostages with their families, after more than 15 months in captivity,” he said in his announcement. “I would also like to note that this agreement was reached by my own government, but its terms will be implemented in their entirety by the next government. In recent days, my team and Trump’s team have been talking like a team,” Biden said. “There is nothing better than the completion of a term to say that this is a real deadline. It prevailed that if we want to do something, we better do it now, because God knows what will happen after the 20th”, commented John Bolton, who served as a national security consultant during Trump’s first term. January 20th is Donald Trump’s inauguration day. The controversy over which American president deserves the praise has begun in Washington and will only intensify with the initial release of nearly three dozen hostages and a 42-day ceasefire. Biden or Trump Biden’s associates say the deal was based on a framework outlined by the American president last May and which he and his advisors have been pursuing for months. On Tuesday (14.01.2025), Biden continued the effort, speaking with Egyptian president Abdel Fatah Al Sisi in a phone call that followed similar talks in previous days with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. On the other hand Trump’s supporters argue he was their “own” president who strengthened the prospects for the deal. He said on December 2 that Hamas would see to Hamas experience a real hell if she did not agree to release the hostages by the day of his inauguration on January 20. Two days earlier, Egypt notified Israel that Hamas was seriously willing to negotiate a ceasefire, an Israeli official said. Plans for reopening negotiations then fell back on the table, the official said, adding however that Trump’s threats “put more oil on the fire”. Middle East analysts and Biden government officials claim it was ultimately the combination of the efforts of Democrats and Republicans that brought about the coveted result. “There is the Trump phenomenon,” said Dennis Ross, who served as a senior Middle East official during the Democratic and Republican government. “It is not so much his threats that affected Hamas, but the emphasis he placed on ending the war before even being elected president. It thus affected Qatar, Egypt and Turkey. And they individually and collectively have the ability to push Hamas.” Netanyahu, Ross added, feels he cannot go against Trump, which gave the upcoming president even greater influence. “But the Biden team deserves credit because it had a direct involvement in drafting the deal,” he said. The debate about who eventually brought the ceasefire deal well holds out among the Biden government officials. One of them said the US was “very lucky” having Trump’s envoy for the Middle East, Steve Whitkov, working alongside Biden’s envoy. But another insisted that “this deal arose for a number of reasons that are not at all related to Trump.” Trump’s envoy for the Middle East, Steve Whitkov – REUTERS/Carlos Barria “Witkov helped close some of the last details,” the official continued. “But saying Trump was the reason is inaccurate. It was the pressure and isolation of Hamas and the work our team has done for many months.” The hostage crisis in Iran in 1981 The presidential transition brings memories from the 1981 agreement that released American hostages in Iran, when another Democratic president transferred power to a Republican successor. The 52 hostages, arrested on Carter, were not released until President Reagan made his opening speech. While Gaza’s widely expected deal comes as the U.S. are in the midst of a political transition, there are notable differences between the two crises. One big difference is cooperation between Biden and Trump teams, particularly the participation of Steve Whitkov, Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, in the Gaza negotiations. “It is not like Carter and Reagan – there was no real partnership there and Khomeini wanted to humiliate Carter by not releasing the hostages until Reagan’s inauguration,” Ross added, referring to Ruhollah Khomeini. Another difference is that the possible Gaza agreement is only one step towards a definitive and more demanding solution to the crisis, which requires an agreement on who will govern, guarantee security and rebuild Gaza if and when Israeli troops leave. “There was tremendous cooperation here between Trump and Biden,” said Aaron David Miller, a former American. Middle East negotiator who’s a senator. The report notes that it is not yet clear how much agreement exists between the outgoing and upcoming US government on the next steps on stability in the Middle East, including policy against Iran, Syria and the Palestinians. Even the realization of a more limited truce in Gaza, Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, observed would be full of challenges regarding “the actual implementation”. Trump’s upcoming national security adviser, Mike Walts, discounting how the next government sees the problem, said it is imperative to resolve the Gaza conflict and encourage a “finally reformed” Palestinian Authority. But he expressed scepticism about the ability to mitigate extremist movements in the region. “Let’s hope you can reform the next generation,” he said, “but sometimes you just have to put bombs on the fronts.” Information From
Wall Street Journal: Who will reap the credit for the ceasefire in Gaza: Biden or Trump?
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