The Biden legacy: The president who brought home the hostages!

Biden’s Legacy – The wars in Gaza and Lebanon, or ending the Wars in Gaza and Lebanon?

Only President Joe Biden can bring the hostages home and end the war in Gaza. Will this be his legacy or will it be the president who fueled the war in Gaza?

Even after the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, the war between Israel and Hezbollah will continue and only end when the war between Israel and Hamas ends in Gaza. As opposed to what Israeli leaders and some US official spokespeople are saying, there is a deal on the table to end the war in Gaza in three weeks that the entire Hamas leadership agrees to. This was transmitted to me directly by a senior member of the Hamas leadership and a member of the Hamas negotiating team. This is what he wrote to me and then verified it with a voice message:

September 10, 2024

Gershon, what you are now receiving from me is an official and approved position of the Hamas movement regarding reaching an agreement/deal.
Ghazi Hamad, Member of Shura Council and the Hamas Negotiating Team

General principles for stopping the war in Gaza
Submitted by Hamas

1- Work to complete all the procedures mentioned below within one phase of three weeks

2- Return all Israeli hostages, civilians and military, alive and dead, in exchange for the release of an agreed number of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons

3- Permanent ceasefire and cessation of all military actions and activities

4- Withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, and return to what it was before October 7

5- Guarantee a truce between the two parties for a period of 5 years during which all military actions and activities are stopped by both parties

6- Existence of international guarantees to follow up on the implementation of the agreement

7- Guarantee the entry of relief materials and the start of the reconstruction process in the Gaza Strip allowing only relief and reconstruction materials to enter and allowing the reconstruction process to begin in the Gaza Strip under the supervision of an international committee.

8 – This matter may require certain details and mechanisms to implement the agreement, but if official approval is received, we are ready to enter into the details.

I have known this Hamas leader for 18 years during which time I have negotiated with him on and off, officially and unofficially.  Our most famous negotiation led to the breakthrough that brought home the captive Israeli soldier in October 2011, Gilad Schalit after more than five years in Hamas captivity in exchange for 1027 Palestinian prisoners, including more than 300 who had murdered Israelis, including four who murdered my wife’s first cousin. Prime Minister Netanyahu and nearly 80% of Israelis supported the deal back then.

The current deal on the table was negotiated by me with the help of retired Israeli General Amiram Levin, in order to grant it more legitimacy than just coming from an Israeli veteran peace activist. In follow up discussions with Hamas, with questions coming from the White House West Wing, the Hamas leader also stated: “Gershon, we have no objection to forming a civilian government, technocrats, of independent and professional people to manage the affairs of Gaza, and enjoy all the powers that guarantee security, order and management of the crossings.” Further clarifying this message, I received confirmation from a former Fatah senior Palestinian non-Hamas personality in exile that the messages that I have received are confirmed by another senior member of the Hamas leadership including noting that Hamas agrees that issues of internal security and their weapons would be in the hands of the new non-Hamas technocratic professional government.

All of this was first conveyed to the three heads of the Israeli negotiating team – the head of the Mossad, the head of the Shin Bet, and a retired general brought into to coordinate the negotiations. One of those three responded to this proposal: “but the Prime Minister does not agree to end the war.”  This is something well known in the Israeli public, but this was an official comment from one of the three official Israeli negotiators. Netanyahu does not want to end the war; he is willing to sacrifice the remaining 101 Israeli hostages (and no know knows how many of them remain alive) on the altar of his own political survival.

But ending the war must happen. Too many people have been killed, too must destruction has occurred. More than 1200 Israelis were killed on October 7, 2023 by the atrocious crimes of Hamas and too many innocent Palestinians, tens of thousands have been killed since then. Gaza is in destroyed. Gaza is in ruins with a humanitarian distaste unfolding every minute. More than 200,000 Israelis are homeless and Netanyahu spoke about total victory in the United Nations.  There is no military solution to these conflicts and there has never been. And now Lebanon and the north of Israel are in flames.

There is one person in the world who has the power to bring an end to these horrendous wars – President Joe Biden. President Biden had the fortitude to say “DON’T” to Iran and then backed it up with US aircraft carriers and the might of the US military. Israel is so completely dependent on the United States and the US diplomatic tool box is so packed with powerful diplomatic carrots that Israel has enjoyed for many years, but it is also very full with many diplomatic sticks. It is time to take out the sticks.  I, without knowing all of the details, can come up with many suggestions for leverage that the US has over Israel. I am sure that those in the know can come up with a very significant list of extreme pressure points of leverage that can impose the US demand to Prime Minister Netanyahu to end the wars and pick up the agreement that is on the table.

President Biden needs to decide if the nickname “Genocide Joe” is going to be his long-lasting legacy, or will it be the man who brought an end to the wars in Lebanon and Gaza and who brings home the Israeli hostages.  President Biden has dedicated more time to the families of Israeli hostages than every member of the Israeli government. Now it is time to finish the task and to bring them home.

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Dr. Gershon Baskin has been in negotiations with Hamas for 18 years. He is the director of Middle East operations for the UK based NGO International Communities Organization and has lived in Israel for 46 years.