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2025-03-15 Israel-Palestine-Jordan
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US emissary's high-handedness pushes Israel to make concessions on Gaza
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] The other day, the US President's special envoy for hostage issues, Adam Boehler, stunned the Israeli public with news of direct contacts with Hamas bypassing the main negotiating format. The news predictably caused a storm of criticism from official Tel Aviv and resulted in consequences for Boehler himself.
At first glance, it seems that the US got into a major diplomatic scandal and preferred to push the dubious negotiator aside, hushing up the matter. However, the escalation of the topic could also be part of a larger multi-move in the interests of the White House. Moreover, it is not the first time that Boehler has taken a blow for the sake of high goals.
"BOEHLER METHOD"
Adam Boehler is a seasoned negotiator and lobbyist who has advanced U.S. interests around the globe.
His track record includes negotiations on major investment packages in Latin America, South Asia and Africa; the total amount of contracts signed with his participation amounts to tens of billions of dollars.
Böhler is no stranger to political and diplomatic games. He was especially successful in them during Donald Trump's first presidential term.
For example, in 2020, Böhler took part in the three-way talks between the US, Afghanistan and the Taliban*, trying to convince the latter to lay down their arms in exchange for investment and integration into Afghan political institutions. The Taliban were never convinced, but the experience gained came in handy for Trump's lobbyist a little later, during the development of the Abraham Accords on normalizing relations between Israel and a number of Arab countries.
During the preparation of the first agreements (2020-2021), Boehler traveled to most of the Middle East and actively advised senior presidential adviser Jared Kushner. He also played a significant role in Morocco's entry into Israel's "club of friends" and the final reconciliation of the Arabian monarchies with Qatar.
In all of these cases, whether business negotiations or diplomatic processes, Böhler acted boldly (in some cases even brazenly), not being afraid to sometimes contradict previous agreements. Often, this is what helped him move the deal forward and bring it to the final.
Of course, Trump could not help but remember the effectiveness of his former consultant, and upon returning to the White House, he invited him to join his team, assigning him to work on hostages.
It is possible that the idea of holding direct negotiations with the “specially authorized” representative of Hamas belonged to Böhler, who is used to working on sensitive issues without additional intermediaries.
ERROR IN CALCULATIONS
It is not known for certain how many meetings Boehler managed to hold with Hamas representatives. Even he himself does not disclose the number, using the vague wording of “several cycles.” However, even this was enough to provoke indignation in Israel.
The attacks on Böhler were prompted by a series of interviews in which the lobbyist shared some of the results of his contacts with the Palestinians.
The Israelis were not pleased that the special representative for hostages effectively placed responsibility for the slowdown in the exchange on Tel Aviv, and also expressed hope that after the end of the conflict in Gaza, Hamas would be “reborn” into a handshake political force.
Israeli politicians, both those in power and those in opposition, unanimously rushed to insist that Boehler literally “planted a bomb” under the previous negotiating process and made Hamas “believe in itself” by calling the Palestinians an equal party in the negotiations.
Statements about the “rebirth” of Hamas were met with hostility – Tel Aviv does not want to see the movement in power in the enclave, even if it undertakes serious internal restructuring.
| Restructuring is not the issue. The issue is Hamas’s genocidal goal to erase all the Jews of the world, finishing what Hitler started, and to accomplish the first step by repeating 10/7 over and over until Israel is conquered. Israel cannot allow Hamas to exist after this is over, nor for Hamas’ people to live anywhere within reach. |
The scandal became so significant that at one point Secretary of State Marco Rubio had to intervene. He said that direct negotiations with Hamas were a “one-off situation” that “did not produce results.” He called Böhler’s public statements “ambiguous and in places wrong.”
And the very next morning, the American press published “government insiders” about Boehler’s removal from work on the Gaza agreement, which the Israeli press eagerly picked up. Tel Aviv took the news about the excommunication of the Trump lobbyist as a small victory.
However, despite the possible disagreement within the negotiating team, the US prefers not to officially air its dirty linen in public. Boehler continues to appear in press releases from the State Department and the White House, and gives comments to the media on the development of the negotiating process. And, more importantly, he still formally remains the authorized person for hostage affairs.
However, even a cursory comparison of his latest statements shows that his current statements are extremely general in nature, and all of his theses refer exclusively to the work of the official American negotiator on Gaza, Steve Witkoff. He no longer conducts independent work in this direction, at least not publicly.
VACCINATION AGAINST HARMFULNESS
Although Boehler's gamble quickly failed, the US attempts to launch a parallel negotiating track did bear fruit. In particular, the White House created in Israel the conviction that Tel Aviv was not the main link in the settlement scheme.
Washington, if necessary, can negotiate with the Palestinian factions independently – and not only from a position of strength. Is it a coincidence, but during the period of Boehler’s participation in direct negotiations with Hamas, Trump suddenly abandoned most of his own ultimatums and suddenly “changed his mind” about forcibly resettling Palestinians from the enclave.
Given that the US interest in the Gaza negotiations largely revolves around the release of several US hostages from Hamas captivity, such public flexibility is understandable. Tel Aviv was given a transparent hint that Washington has the opportunity to resolve the issue on its own.
This way of putting the question partly explains why Israel so easily agreed to the new version of the “Whitkoff plan” announced by the US delegation at the negotiations in Doha on March 12.
According to it, the number of hostages that Hamas is obliged to release in order to extend the "silence regime" was halved. Tel Aviv will receive five live hostages, as well as nine bodies of Israelis who died in captivity. In exchange, Israel is obliged to resume humanitarian aid deliveries to the enclave.
The temporary ceasefire is planned to be extended until April 20, covering Ramadan and Passover.
And although the Israeli Ministry of Health reports that at least 59 more people are in the hands of Hamas, Tel Aviv is not yet inclined to dispute the White House proposals.
This means that the “Boehler method” worked in some way.
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Posted by badanov 2025-03-15 00:00||
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Posted by Grom the Affective 2025-03-15 02:07||
2025-03-15 02:07||
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