Egypt changed terms of Gaza ceasefire deal presented to Hamas, surprising negotiators, sources say

Aug 6, 2012
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I am not feeling well today but I find the energy to share with my American friends key news.

A reminder of the neighbourhood Israel resides in. Who can you trust? Are allies ever really allies? Are neutral nations ever really neutral in the M.E?

I heard fairly early that the agreement Hamas agreed to was not the same agreement Israel agreed to. It was a bait and switch, by someone...

Any hostage or civilian that dies is now indirectly the fault of Egypt and those who quietly changed the agreement documents to sabotage the process.




Egyptian intelligence quietly changed the terms of a ceasefire proposal that Israel had already signed off on earlier this month, ultimately scuttling a deal that could have released Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and set a pathway to temporarily end the fighting in Gaza, according to three people familiar with the discussions.

The ceasefire agreement that Hamas ended up announcing on May 6 was not what the Qataris or the Americans believed had been submitted to Hamas for a potential final review, the sources said.

The changes made by Egyptian intelligence, the details of which have not been previously reported, led to a wave of anger and recrimination among officials from the US, Qatar and Israel, and left ceasefire talks at an impasse.


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The three sources familiar with the matter told CNN that a senior Egyptian intelligence official named Ahmed Abdel Khalek was responsible for making the changes. Abdel Khalek is a senior deputy to the Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, who has been Burns’ counterpart in leading Egypt’s mediation in the ceasefire talks.

One source familiar with the negotiations said Abdel Khalek told the Israelis one thing and Hamas another. More of Hamas’ demands were inserted into the original framework that Israel had tacitly agreed to in order to secure Hamas’ approval, the source said. But the other mediators were not informed; nor, critically, were the Israelis.

“Hamas was telling their people, ‘We will have a deal in place tomorrow,’” the first source said.

“All sides were under the assumption the Egyptians provided the same document” that Israel had signed off on and the other mediators, the US and Qatar, were aware of, the person said.

Instead, the second source said, the Egyptians sought to blur the lines between the original framework and Hamas’s response.

The Egyptian government did not respond to a request for comment.
 
Never trust a camel trader. ;)

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