Political analysts: Israel descends from the tree and Hamas won the media battle

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Video duration 27 minutes 57 seconds 27:57

Political thinker Fahmi Howeidi said that Israel's acceptance of extending the truce with the Palestinian resistance factions marks the beginning of its retreat from its hardline position at the beginning of the war, while political science professor Bilal Shobaki said that the idea of the truce was mainly aimed at giving Tel Aviv an opportunity to retreat from its first goals.

Howeidi confirmed – during his participation in the program "Gaza ... What's more?" - Israel, which was talking about wiping out the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), began to treat it with equality, which means that it began to descend from the tree of intimidation, the claim of power and the brutal desire for revenge.

Bilal al-Shobaki, head of the political science department at Hebron University, said that the philosophy of the truce was based mainly on pushing Israel to retreat from its initial positions and great commitments, and this has already been achieved as some voices inside Israel began to talk about the importance of reaching the desired results, even if it was through negotiation and not war.

Shobaki believes that the mediators were not interested in the details of the truce, but rather in approving it as a first step to push Israel back and work to cool the street.

Shobaki pointed out that influential former generals in the Israeli street are currently talking about the need for Benjamin Netanyahu's government to take advantage of any opportunity to release detainees through intermediaries.

In addition, the method of handing over the detainees sent painful messages to all those who raised big slogans and pledged to eliminate Hamas, according to Shobaki, who believes that the resistance is trying to push the Israelis to review their positions and reconsider the feasibility of a military operation after 50 days if the handover of prisoners takes place in the north, where the fighting is concentrated.

Howeidi agreed with Shobaki, saying that Hamas succeeded in this battle despite the fact that Israel began the battle of false propaganda early when it promoted many allegations adopted by US President Joe Biden and Western countries, yet "Hamas refuted the false Israeli narratives through its treatment of prisoners," he said.

The truce is a prelude to more difficult negotiations

Regarding the possibility of turning into a temporary truce, which was extended for two more days, Howeidi said that it may not only lead to a cessation of fighting, but will further expose Israeli lies and dismantle its narrative over time, especially since Israel "will witness political disasters after the end of the war, and Netanyahu will be the first victim of it."

In this regard, Shobaki says that the Israeli media narrative is already changing, because the resistance presents documented narratives and a more credible image, which prompted the Israeli media to search for a new way to deal with this situation and abandon the adoption of the government's narrative as part of psychological warfare.

Shobaki said that the Israeli media discourse is no longer able to continue dehumanizing the resistance after the latter sent messages that could not be refuted.

Thus, the longer the truce lasts, the more difficult it will be to return to war, as well as negotiations, according to Shobaki, who believes that the resistance will not accept the current mechanism and will ask for talk about ending the entire war and whitewashing prisons with great guarantees.

Howeidi also believes that as negotiations progress, the more complicated they become, because they will be associated with large and old political complexities, and therefore Hamas must continue to manage the battle rationally and consciously, as it has done in recent weeks.

Howeidi said that Hamas has performed impressively at the political and military levels, and that it should take advantage of the erosion of the Israeli narrative in the upcoming negotiations, especially since the Israelis are good at the game of politics and evade international and UN resolutions and commitments.

The dismantling of the Israeli narrative

As for the reasons for the decline in Western support for the Israeli narrative from what it was at the beginning of the war, Howeidi said that governments look with great interest at their streets, which have moved strongly for Palestine, which has strengthened Hamas' position and exposed Israel's lies, he said.

Howeidi said that Western governments are very interested in their streets, not in the Arab street, which is basically free of demonstrations, as he put it.

As for the reasons for the difficulty of the upcoming negotiations, Shobaki said that talking about the exchange of military personnel will not be easy, because the resistance will ask for the whitewashing of prisons and even if the exchange is partially completed, the focus will be on the number and quality of Palestinian prisoners who will be released, as well as other matters such as lifting the siege on Gaza and allowing freedom of movement.

Shobaki said that the mediation was characterized by being pressure, not a carrier, which made the factors of maturation of the big deal form, because the West sensed the shaking of the ground under Netanyahu's feet, adding that "Biden also realized that the loss of his popularity in the American street seems like collateral damage for Netanyahu, which may cause a change in positions in the future."

In these circumstances, Howeidi said, extending the truce, bringing in more fuel and aid, and relieving the residents of the Gaza Strip from the bombardment will increase Hamas' strength and make it more capable of negotiating hard, because it will be based on a strong popular incubator, in addition to the strongest pressure card represented by the prisoners.

However, what Hamas needs now is not an Arab position, but "Arab silence," according to Howeidi, who believes that the Arab position is "weak," and that Arab countries must adhere to the principle that the future of Palestine determines the Palestinians, "because if they talk about the position of international or Arab forces in Gaza, they will weaken the Palestinian position and strengthen these theses that Israel wants."

Source : Al Jazeera