[Please note that this news article has been heavily abridged. It is not reproduced in its entirely. Readers who want more can refer to the URL.

Opinion. Regardless of what one thinks of the US poking its nose into everybody’s business, Hamas is ready to negotiate with Israel as equals. Hopefully, the Palestinian people will reject further Hamas influence.

Israel should also show its good faith by disarming all troops, police and reservists at the border, halting further attacks and dismantling checkpoints not only in Gaza but in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

What’s good for one is good for the other. Palestinians will never be treated as second-class.]

Board of Peace focus on Hamas risks return to war in Gaza, critics say

US-backed board has put sole blame for stalled ceasefire on militant group despite Israel not fulfilling its obligations, analysts say

Julian Borger

The Guardian: 23 May 2026

The top diplomat from the Board of Peace has blamed Hamas for the stalled ceasefire, but critics have said the US-backed board’s lack of even-handedness in implementing the truce risks a return to war.

Israeli forces have continued to carry out airstrikes on Gaza. They have also moved forward from the ceasefire line agreed in October, increasing the area under direct Israeli control from the agreed 53% to at least 60%, and have regularly shot at Palestinians who came within a few hundred metres of the shifting line.

Israel has also fallen short of its obligation to allow in 600 trucks of humanitarian supplies a day, and has refused to relax restrictions on “dual-use” items, which have prevented aid agencies bringing in basic humanitarian supplies, such as water pipes, or heavy machinery to begin clearing rubble.

Hamas has been calling since February for the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), a panel of 12 Palestinian technocrats created by the Board of Peace in January, to be allowed into the territory to begin the transfer of power.

“The Hamas guys inside Gaza are much more pragmatic,” Baskin said. “They don’t have money, they don’t have the resources, and the people in Gaza don’t want them. And they know that they can’t continue like this.”

Under Mladenov’s plan, the NCAG is supposed to oversee the disarmament of armed groups in Gaza, however Baskin said Israel had adamantly refused to allow the committee members to enter Gaza from Egypt, where they have become an administration in waiting.

“It is the Israeli insistence that NCAG not go in,” he said. “Americans have been told by the Israelis that if NCAG is allowed to go in, it will create a situation like Lebanon, where there will be an official government but the real power will be with the guys with guns in the streets.”

“I don’t think that’s the big problem,” Baskin added. “The big problem is that Israel wants to renew the war, and they’re creating the conditions where the Israeli public is being pumped every day, with the media telling them that Hamas is rebuilding itself, Hamas is gaining strength; that’s a really overblown exaggeration of reality.”

Daniel Levy, the British-Israeli head of the US/Middle East Project and former peace negotiator in earlier Israeli-Palestinian talks, said Hamas had not rejected disarmament and the transfer of power.

“It’s well established that they are ready to hand over governance. There’s never been a question about that,” Levy said. “But they’ve also talked in terms of non-rearmament, non-display of weapons, and [surrendering] heavy weapons. They’ve set out some of these things, but they are not going to wave a white flag of surrender.”

The limbo has left the Palestinians officials in the NCAG stuck in a hotel in Cairo. They have attended seminars on governance and state-building, and they recently flew to Brussels to meet EU officials, but they have been prevented from talking to the press.

Shehada said four NCAG members had threatened to resign.

A source close to the NCAG said its members were aware their reputation for integrity was suffering among Palestinians by their association with the Board of Peace, but he said: “They also know there is no alternative. If there is any hope of stopping the killing in Gaza, this is the only game in town.”

Edited May 24May 24 by unblocktheplanet
add

11 hours ago, unblocktheplanet said:

[Please note that this news article has been heavily abridged. It is not reproduced in its entirely. Readers who want more can refer to the URL.

Opinion. Regardless of what one thinks of the US poking its nose into everybody’s business, Hamas is ready to negotiate with Israel as equals. Hopefully, the Palestinian people will reject further Hamas influence.

Israel should also show its good faith by disarming all troops, police and reservists at the border, halting further attacks and dismantling checkpoints not only in Gaza but in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

What’s good for one is good for the other. Palestinians will never be treated as second-class.]

Board of Peace focus on Hamas risks return to war in Gaza, critics say

US-backed board has put sole blame for stalled ceasefire on militant group despite Israel not fulfilling its obligations, analysts say

Julian Borger

The Guardian: 23 May 2026

The top diplomat from the Board of Peace has blamed Hamas for the stalled ceasefire, but critics have said the US-backed board’s lack of even-handedness in implementing the truce risks a return to war.

Israeli forces have continued to carry out airstrikes on Gaza. They have also moved forward from the ceasefire line agreed in October, increasing the area under direct Israeli control from the agreed 53% to at least 60%, and have regularly shot at Palestinians who came within a few hundred metres of the shifting line.

Israel has also fallen short of its obligation to allow in 600 trucks of humanitarian supplies a day, and has refused to relax restrictions on “dual-use” items, which have prevented aid agencies bringing in basic humanitarian supplies, such as water pipes, or heavy machinery to begin clearing rubble.

Hamas has been calling since February for the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), a panel of 12 Palestinian technocrats created by the Board of Peace in January, to be allowed into the territory to begin the transfer of power.

“The Hamas guys inside Gaza are much more pragmatic,” Baskin said. “They don’t have money, they don’t have the resources, and the people in Gaza don’t want them. And they know that they can’t continue like this.”

Under Mladenov’s plan, the NCAG is supposed to oversee the disarmament of armed groups in Gaza, however Baskin said Israel had adamantly refused to allow the committee members to enter Gaza from Egypt, where they have become an administration in waiting.

“It is the Israeli insistence that NCAG not go in,” he said. “Americans have been told by the Israelis that if NCAG is allowed to go in, it will create a situation like Lebanon, where there will be an official government but the real power will be with the guys with guns in the streets.”

“I don’t think that’s the big problem,” Baskin added. “The big problem is that Israel wants to renew the war, and they’re creating the conditions where the Israeli public is being pumped every day, with the media telling them that Hamas is rebuilding itself, Hamas is gaining strength; that’s a really overblown exaggeration of reality.”

Daniel Levy, the British-Israeli head of the US/Middle East Project and former peace negotiator in earlier Israeli-Palestinian talks, said Hamas had not rejected disarmament and the transfer of power.

“It’s well established that they are ready to hand over governance. There’s never been a question about that,” Levy said. “But they’ve also talked in terms of non-rearmament, non-display of weapons, and [surrendering] heavy weapons. They’ve set out some of these things, but they are not going to wave a white flag of surrender.”

The limbo has left the Palestinians officials in the NCAG stuck in a hotel in Cairo. They have attended seminars on governance and state-building, and they recently flew to Brussels to meet EU officials, but they have been prevented from talking to the press.

Shehada said four NCAG members had threatened to resign.

A source close to the NCAG said its members were aware their reputation for integrity was suffering among Palestinians by their association with the Board of Peace, but he said: “They also know there is no alternative. If there is any hope of stopping the killing in Gaza, this is the only game in town.”

Blair resigning might ea good start !