Ceasefire talks gathers pace… albeit only in TV studio

Channel 2’s savvy Middle East analyst Ehud Ya’ari says he believes most of the components for a ceasefire are at hand, but “there’s no doctor” to put the pieces together.

He says that Mahmoud Abbas should be the mediator. Israel might not like everything Abbas says, argues Ya’ari, but he’s a credible “address,” a leader recognized as the PA president by Hamas, and someone who proposed yesterday that first the sides should stop firing, and then they should work out the ceasefire terms.

Despite PM Netanyahu’s tough talk yesterday about not being deterred by any international pressure from attacking a terror group bent on Israel’s destruction, and Liberman’s demand for the destruction of Hamas, Ya’ari says the foreign minister’s goal is emphatically not going to be sought, and that the likelihood of a major ground offensive is small.

He does allow that there might yet be a limited use of ground forces, against specific targets.

While Ya’ari believes Hamas is looking for a way out, his Channel 2 colleague Nir Dvori immediately follows up by reporting that Hamas is still desperately trying to pull off a “major” or “quality” attack — that is, killing lots of Israelis with a rocket strike, sea infiltration, cross-border tunnel raid, kidnapping soldiers and/or civilians, including in Israel and the West Bank, or such like — so that it has “something to show the Gaza public.” Dvori also reports, from southern Israel, that IDF preparations for a ground offensive are continuing.

Dvori also says Hamas is having an increasingly difficult time maintaining rocket fire, as the IAF strikes take their toll. This despite 50-plus rocket attacks on Israel so far today. He says Egypt, Qatar, the PA and the US are all potential factors in ceasefire efforts.

In the studio, Likud minister Limor Livnat notes that Netanyahu said yesterday the Israeli attacks on Hamas would continue until calm was restored. “We’ve not reached that point yet,” Livnat notes.

Meretz leader Zahava Gal-on also advocates Abbas as a potential mediator for what she says is an urgently needed ceasefire.

Israel seems to be trapped in the false notion that “what can’t be achieved through the use of force can be achieved with the use of more force.” She highlights that well over 100 people have been killed in Gaza, including civilians, says a major ground offensive would cause lots more bloodshed on both sides, and warns of growing overseas delegitimization of Israel as the days pass.