Sameera Casmod | sameerac@radioislam.co.za
29 August 2025 | 11:41 CAT
3-minute read

Gaza ceasefire mediators have diverging objectives

While Qatar and Egypt have have persuaded Hamas to accept the month-old ceasefire proposal, the United States and Israel have indicated a complete lack of interest in a temporary halt that would end the fighting for 60 days, allow for the exchange of hostages and enhance the flow of desperately-needed food and other humanitarian aid into Gaza.

In this week’s Middle East Report, seasoned scholar-journalist James Dorsey, Senior Fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, delivered a nuanced briefing on the fraught dynamics surrounding Gaza’s ceasefire negotiations.

“The United States and Israel want an end to the war on Israel’s terms rather than on the terms of what was negotiated initially in the temporary ceasefire proposal. The Qataris and the Egyptians are trying to salvage the situation… [to] ensure that the road to an independent Palestinian state is kept open,” Dorsey observed.

The US and Israel, meanwhile, are going to extreme lengths to close that channel. Israel’s continued assault on the enclave, settlement expansion, total blockade of Gaza, and measures creating territorial fragmentation are indicative of its measures to weaken the prospects of Palestinian statehood.

The US is currently weakening the prospects for Palestinian statehood through actions at the United Nations, sanctions against Palestinian officials, and continued support for Israel. The US maintains that a Palestinian state should only be established through direct negotiations with Israel, not through unilateral international recognition. 

In July 2025, the Trump administration announced sanctions against members of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), accusing them of undermining peace efforts by pursuing statehood recognition through international bodies. The sanctions included denying visas to targeted individuals.

Then, earlier this month, the US issued sanctions targeting the ICC after it continued to pursue investigations into Israeli actions.

Israel forges ahead with military campaign to seize control of Gaza City

In a meeting at the White House that was chaired by US President Trump and attended by senior US officials, Ron Dermer, an Israeli politician and diplomat serving as the Minister of Strategic Affairs was requested to outline Israel’s red lines with regards to a resolution to its ongoing onslaught on Gaza.

“It was very clear from those red lines that there could be no role for Hamas or the West Bank-based, internationally-recognised Palestine Authority in a post-war Gaza. The United States further has indicated that it no longer sees the creation of an independent Palestinian state as crucial to the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or as a pillar of US Middle East policy,” Dorsey noted.

Egypt trains Palestinians to participate in 10 000-strong Gaza security force

Arab officials have reportedly said that the training is underway. The objective is part of a vision to provide security for a post-war Gaza in which Hamas has no role. The majority of the security force is expected to be constituted of members of the Palestinian Authority’s security services, with some from the PA’s Fatah faction.

“What the United States and particularly Israel wants to see in post-war Gaza is a multinational or Arab peacekeeping force. The United Arab Emirates has already said that it conditionally would be willing to contribute troops to such a force and an administration in Gaza that would neither involve Hamas [n]or the Palestine Authority,” Dorsey said.

“In advance of that, the Egyptians are now training several hundred Palestinian security officers who would then be part of a multinational or Arab peacekeeping force and if you wish give it a Palestinian fig leaf,” he added.

Netanyahu’s last-ditch attempt at censorship

On the back of an ill-conceived communication strategy and the overwhelming evidence that discredits Israeli assertions and arguments, Netanyahu still harbours hope of winning the information war, despite acknowledging that Israel is unable to compete effectively in the cycle of social media reporting on what is happening in Gaza.

In response, Netanyahu suggested that Israel should seek greater influence, if not outright control, over the algorithms used by social media platforms to decide which content is promoted or suppressed.

Dorsey noted that this reflects a broader effort to stifle debate and mute criticism of Israeli policies—echoing similar crackdowns on protest movements in the United States under the Trump administration and in parts of Europe.

Tech giants such as Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, have already faced allegations of disproportionately removing pro-Palestinian content. Dorsey added that Israel is among the most active governments in submitting takedown requests to these platforms, further intensifying concerns about censorship and the shrinking space for free expression in the digital sphere.

Watch the Middle East Report on Sabaahul Muslim with Moulana Ibrahim Daya.