Negotiations Before Ramadan Fail

The Muslim month of Ramadan has now started without the much hoped-for humanitarian pause in the Hamas-Israel War. Last week Hamas hardened its negotiating position, basically insisting that Israel stop the war and withdraw from the Gaza Strip. This hardening of position has revealed that Hamas cares nothing for the civilians in Gaza, other than to use them as human shields and their suffering as a means of putting more international pressure on Israel to stop its actions to remove Hamas from power.

In 2022, the President Biden’s administration designated Qatar a major non-NATO ally - a designation that carries significant military and economic privileges as part of a close relationship with the USA. That has prompted many world leaders to count on officials in Qatar to help negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas along with the release of the Israeli hostages held since 7th October 2023.

But following the failure to persuade Hamas to accept a humanitarian pause, more people are questioning whether Qatar’s leaders are reliable partners in the process - especially in light of the huge sums of money they have given Hamas and the fact that they host Hamas leaders in their country.

This report from CBN News: