David Makovsky:
Yes, no, really good questions. And I agree with Yousef that, if there would be fighting in densely urban areas, it becomes very bloody.
And that’s why the IDF chief of staff does not want that and would like Israel to stay outside of the cities. But I think there was a feeling that you were getting close under the Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s envoy’s formula of half the hostages getting out in return for a certain ratio of lifetime prisoners of Hamas being released.
And let’s remember that Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of October 7, was released in a very lopsided deal in — with Gilad Shalit in 2011. But still there was a feeling, OK, they’re moving towards each other. And then it seemed that Hamas hardened their position and said, no, we’re not doing this deal the way we said, we will not disarm until after we have a state in Jerusalem.
And this is coming at the very time that the Arab states, the Arab League, and for the first time really called out Hamas publicly and said, they have to disarm and they cannot govern Gaza. It should be the Palestinian Authority.
And so I think this was an important breakthrough. I didn’t think it got a lot of attention here because of the tariffs maybe or other issues, but that the Arab states were publicly calling out Hamas, saying they shouldn’t rule Gaza, is an important moment. And I think it was moving towards each other, and then Hamas hardened their position.
The prime minister — I know from people who’ve talked to the prime minister said that he feels they hardened their position because of this conference of Macron, of France, or whatever. It doesn’t matter. But the point is, is that he’s under a lot of pressure now
And you had that relative of Evyatar David on the show the other day, and with the pictures of him looking like he came out of Auschwitz or something from the Holocaust, and the public wants these hostages home. So he’s feeling a lot of heat, and he just said, well, the negotiations aren’t working. We have got to try something new.
But you have got to be careful, what is the alternative to that too?
