By Janet Ekstract, ISTANBUL – On Sunday, at a joint news conference in Doha, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani both reiterated the need for an immediate peace deal in the Gaza conflict. Fidan said that Hamas is ready for a peace agreement and that Israel must be forced to accept it. He reiterated Turkiye’s support for Palestinians, emphasizing that Hamas is open to a permanent solution but that Israel needed to get on-board. Fidan was in Doha for bilateral talks with top Qatari officials and was received by Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Qatar is one of Turkiye’s closest allies in the region and both countries are some of the major proponents of diplomacy in the region, working toward seeing an end to the Palestine-Israel conflict. Turkiye has been engaged in seeking support to end Israel’s aggression on Gaza and to call for humanitarian aid flow into the Gaza Strip. Fidan said they are still working to get a ceasefire in the region.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s Foreign Minister Al Thani pushed for immediate action to force Israel to allow humanitarian aid into the currently blockaded Gaza Strip. As Al Thani said: “Qatar rejects the use of starvation and humanitarian aid as a weapon against the Palestinian people in Gaza.” He added: “We continue our efforts with our partners to end the war in Gaza,” adding “Efforts must be made with allies to compel Israel to allow the entry of humanitarian aid.” Al Thani also voiced his deep concern about the broken ceasefire agreement in Gaza and Israel’s increasingly violent assaults on Palestinians which he said have “worsened the suffering of more than 2 million Palestinians.” He did indicate “a bit of progress” about reports of a meeting on Thursday in Doha between Israel’s Mossad chief David Barnea and Qatar’s prime minister. But he reiterated: “We need to find an answer for the ultimate question: how to end this war,” adding it is a “key point of the entire negotiations.” Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. were instrumental in brokering a ceasefire on January 19 that both the Israel and Hamas accused the other of violating. The initial phase of that truce ended in early March with both sides coming to a stalemate on next steps while Israel resumed air and ground attacks across the Gaza Strip on March 18 while it had halted all aid to the Strip, earlier.
In the latest update on the possibility of a hostage deal, Barnea met with Qatar’s foreign minister to discuss a potential hostage deal on April 24, according to reports from Israel’s press. As Qatar’s prime minister said: “The meeting that took place on Thursday is part of these efforts where we’re trying to find a breakthrough.” One official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that Hamas is open to an agreement to end the war in Gaza with the unconditional release of all hostages and to secure a five-year truce. The Qatari prime minister said current efforts focus on achieving the “best comprehensive deal possible that ends the war, brings the hostages out and not dividing (a deal) into other phases.” As a majority of analysts and prominent Israelis have pointed out, the government of Prime Minister Netanyahu is dead set on continuing the war in Gaza to keep his far-right coalition partners satisfied despite the fact that over 40,000 Israelis protested in Tel Aviv and other cities, demanding Netanyahu’s resignation.
Fidan said, “Our efforts on Gaza are complementary to the efforts of Qatar and Egypt. In our discussions, we see where Hamas is now. Hamas can easily accept a deal where a two-state solution is on the table.” He also said: “We can turn this crisis into an opportunity. If the sides have good intentions, this may be the last crisis we face. Or, it can set a precedent for a worse crisis. Our goal is to find a lasting solution. The approach of the United States, the Trump administration, matters here, Israel should face pressure because right now they don’t have any military opposition in the region (against their actions).” Though the Turkish foreign minister has remained optimistic about the prospects of achieving a ceasefire that would lead to lasting peace – the reality on the ground is that the current Israeli government made it clear that a two-state solution is not their goal. Netanyahu’s far-right coalition had earlier declared it wants to see Palestinians sent to other countries and a far-right group in Israel already has plans to sell land in Gaza to build a seaside resort, according to Israeli media. Meanwhile, in the White House meeting where U.S. President Donald Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump stated that Gaza is ‘an incredible piece of important real estate,” while Netanyahu had referred to unnamed countries that would “if Gazans want to leave, would want to take them in.” Netanyahu said: “It’s going to take years to rebuild Gaza, meanwhile people can have an option, the president has a vision, countries are responding to that vision. “We’re working on it.”
