Benjamin Netanyahu is “the most powerful man in the Middle East” and is able to “carry out all his plans unhindered in Gaza,” Husein Baji, president of the Foreign Policy Institute of Turkey and professor at Department of International Relations of METU University of Ankara.
Despite the start of a new round of US-brokered talks between Israel and Hamas in Cairo on Friday (23/8), he remains pessimistic about the prospect of a ceasefire agreement.
“Ankara is trying to be the outside player with the modified regional power,” he adds of his country. “He is definitely one of the key players in the Middle East. However, Turkey is now undesirable for Israel and Arab countries as it fully supports Hamas.”
He does not consider it a coincidence that the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, visited Turkey recently, while on September 4, the Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi is expected in Ankara for the first time. “Turkey and Egypt are the balancers of the Middle East,” he argues.
Despite US optimism, talks in Doha to reach a cease-fire agreement have been fruitless. Who is responsible for this?
Both sides. Neither Netanyahu nor Hamas want a ceasefire.
Although a new round of talks has begun in Cairo, do you insist that you see no prospects for a truce?
Netanyahu visited the US. He met with both Biden and Trump. He addressed Congress and left with full American support. He returned to Israel fully strengthened and with his hands free to carry out all his plans in Gaza until the end, “emptying” it of the Palestinians. The Israeli president is changing the conditions, creating new ones, because he does not want a ceasefire. That is why it still continues the bloody attacks on Gaza.
Does the assumption of the leadership of Hamas by Yahya Sinwar, who succeeded the more moderate Ismail Haniya, still make it difficult to reach an agreement?
Absolutely. One word describes the Netanyahu-Sinouar relationship: hate. There is no prospect of convergence between them. Netanyahu knows Hamas and its people very well. He supported them, seeking an alternative to Fatah. Ultimately, however, he created the “dragon” of Israel.
But while the operations in Gaza continue, the Arab world does not react and the Palestinian forces remain divided. Iran, however, is silent for now.
Arab countries are not going to fight Israel. The Gulf countries do not accept political Islam (represented by Hamas) in the region, so they support Abbas. On the other hand, there is no common ground between Abbas and Hamas. Iran does not fight the same. He gets others to do it. He swallowed the bitter “pill” of humiliation, with the assassination of Haniya in Tehran, and avoids declaring war on Israel, which would be a war against the US. In the meantime, I don’t expect Israel to stop unless it ends its mission in Gaza, taking advantage of undivided Western support. Netanyahu is unquestionably, at the moment, the most powerful man in the Middle East. I see no reason to be optimistic about anything right now.
#feasible #ceasefire #Middle #East #Hussein #Baji #BIMA
