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CIA, Mossad, Qatar, Egypt Summit on Gaza on Sunday in Rome

(By Marta Serafini, Sent to JerusalemRome will be the venue for the new meeting to try to mediate between Israel and Hamas. CIA Director Bill Burns, Mossad chief David Barnea, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel are expected to arrive in Rome.

The news comes again from Axios, which cites American and Israeli sources. The talks are not expected to include negotiations on details. But the purpose of the summit is still to draw a grid. Israeli negotiators do not believe the Rome meeting will lead to a turning point and doubt that President Joe Biden’s pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu has persuaded the Israeli prime minister to soften some of his demands on Gaza, including those related to control of the Philadelphi Corridor and the Rafah crossing. “Netanyahu wants an agreement that is impossible to get. Right now, he is not willing to give in, so we expect more stalemate than an agreement,” the official added.

According to analysts, Bibi is reluctant to reach an agreement that would prompt his far-right allies, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, to abandon the ruling coalition. But not only that. A second anonymous source confirms that Biden also fears that Netanyahu is stalling just to prevent his majority from collapsing. In any case, some glimmers remain. Israel, the United States and the United Arab Emirates held a secret meeting in Abu Dhabi on Thursday to discuss post-war plans for Gaza, according to Axios. The meeting was attended by Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed, Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk. Just last week, Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE’s representative to the United Nations, indicated that Abu Dhabi was willing to provide troops for a peacekeeping force in Gaza, the first Arab country to do so. In an interview with the Financial Times, the ambassador adopted the perspective that the Biden administration has been working on for some time, calling for the establishment of a “temporary international mission” in the Strip that would pave the way for “reuniting Gaza.” The occupied West Bank is under one legitimate Palestinian authority.”