Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday denied adding new conditions to the outline presented on May 27, ahead of a high-level summit set for Thursday which is intended to significantly advance the hostage deal and truce talks between Israel and Hamas.
Critics of Netanyahu in Israel, as well as international media reports, have suggested for months that the prime minister was adding clauses and conditions to the original outline proposed in May in order to prevent a deal.
The current talks are being held on the basis of the Israeli proposal that was presented by U.S. President Joe Biden on May 27. On July 29, Netanyahu sent a letter that he says clarified several points in the original outline, while critics say he added new conditions designed to prevent an agreement.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu's office (PMO) released a detailed statement denying the charge and specifically refuting three claims often made against him.
"Prime Minister Netanyahu's July 27 letter does not introduce extra conditions and certainly does not contradict or undermine the May 27 proposal," the statement read.
"In fact, Hamas is the one that demanded 29 changes to the May 27 proposal, something the Prime Minister refused to do."
In the first of three points, the PMO statement said: "The May 27 proposal stipulates that only unarmed civilians will be permitted to cross the Netzarim corridor to Northern Gaza. The July 27 letter stipulates that an agreed-upon mechanism should be established to assure this (something that was initially raised by the U.S. mediator). The letter not only does not contradict the May 27 proposal, it facilitates it."
Secondly, Israel had clarified that while the original proposal spoke of "living or dead" that were to be released by Hamas, its July 27 letter said, "all the living hostages in the relevant category should be released."
Lastly, the statement claimed that Israel didn't introduce new terms regarding its veto over a certain number of prisoners that Israel would release, or its right to designate at least a certain number of prisoners who would be released abroad.
"The July 27 letter fully conforms with this condition as well. Thus, the July 27 letter does not introduce new terms. To the contrary, it includes essential clarifications to help implement the May 27 proposal," the PMO wrote.
However, the statement didn't address the additional charge that Netanyahu added the new condition that Israel would not vacate the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt along the Philadelphi Corridor.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have claimed that Israel could leave the region to reach a deal, which Netanyahu has said would be a red line for him.
In addition, the Philadelphi Corridor wasn't fully under Israeli control until several days after the original outline was proposed.
Ahead of the Thursday summit, the U.S. started a diplomatic offensive across the region.
While State Secretary Antony Blinken canceled a planned visit over security concerns, national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Monday asked White House Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk to travel to Egypt, while U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein headed to Lebanon.
CIA Director William Burns is also expected to fly to the Middle East for the talks, a source told the Wall Street Journal.
President Joe Biden admitted the difficulty of reaching an agreement amid the current tensions but stressed, "I'm not giving up." Answering reporter questions in New Orleans on Tuesday, Biden said he expected Iran to forgo its threatened attacks on Israel if a deal would be reached.
"We want everybody to show up on Thursday and roll up their sleeves and get down to work," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday but added, "And at the same time, we're watching very, very closely what Iran and its proxies might do this week."
Hamas has announced it wouldn't attend the talks, and its new leader Yahya Sinwar stated Monday that Israel must stop its military operations in Gaza first to show its seriousness about a deal.
Republished with permission from All Israel News