A number of officials from various Arab states gathered in Doha over the weekend for the Doha Forum. They appear to be coming together in a consensus regarding Gaza and the need for the Trump-backed ceasefire deal to move to a new phase. The White House also appears to want this to happen.
Among the statements at the Doha confab was Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty’s comments on Saturday that the rapid deployment of an international ceasefire monitoring force should happen soon“under the second phase of a peace deal for the Gaza Strip,” Arab News reported.
In addition, “Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Reuters on Saturday that a credible Palestinian civil administration and a vetted, trained police force should be in place to allow Hamas to disarm, saying the group is prepared to hand over governance of the enclave.”
Qatar pushes for next phase
Qatar, which hosts the forum, is also pushing to move into a new phase in Gaza. One Israeli hostage remains held there. Doha appears to believe that the new phase can happen before all the hostages have been handed over, though the ceasefire deal requires Hamas to hand over all the hostages.
“Negotiations on consolidating the US-backed truce in the war in Gaza are at a ‘critical’ moment, Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said on Saturday. Mediators are working to force the next phase of ceasefire forward, the Qatari prime minister – whose country has been a key mediator in the war – said, during a panel at the Doha Forum conference in Qatar.”
Al-Arabiya said that the Board of Peace, which is supposed to help post-war Gaza, should meet by the end of the year. Al-Arabiya also focused on Qatar’s views on the negotiations to keep the deal going.
Egypt has also made clear that it won’t open the Rafah crossing solely to allow Gazans to leave and become displaced, after Israeli officials had hinted that the crossing would open to let Gazans leave.
Throughout the war, some Israeli officials have tried to get Gazans to leave, including announcing plans that they could move to Egypt, Libya, or other countries. None of these plans came to fruition, and Egypt has been clear that it will not collaborate in any initiative that sees Gazans displaced, in which they leave but cannot return.
The concept of opening the border solely for people to leave is viewed by Cairo as a plan to get rid of Gazans. It said in Doha that it would not abide by this concept and that any border opening must enable two-way traffic in and out of Gaza.
It is now clear that most of the Arab countries, as well as Turkey, want to see the international stabilization force deployed to Gaza. They want to see this happen as part of the new phase. They appear to believe that Israel is stalling and dragging out the ceasefire without enabling new initiatives to take shape.
However, although many countries want to see the new phase begin, they don’t seem ready to send their own personnel to be part of the international force. Turkey appears to want to contribute, but Jerusalem has opposed Ankara having an expanded role in Gaza. This is because of concerns that Ankara backs Hamas.
This leaves a lot of complexity in terms of getting to the next phase. The Trump administration may have to become more involved in working with the Arab and Muslim countries regarding Gaza and the next steps.