Doha—the capital of Qatar—became an international spotlight a few days ago, when mediators from the United States, Qatar and Egypt met to discuss a ceasefire in Gaza.
Even the Church is hopeful that this will produce results. This is what the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem said during the so-called Rimini Meeting.
CARD. PIERBATTISTA PIZZABALLA
Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem
The war will end. I hope that something will come out of the ongoing negotiations. I have some doubts, but it's the last train. If a cease-fire cannot be reached, it will be tragic, really tragic. And we are in a moment of reminiscence. We can go towards a cease-fire or we can also go towards an escalation. It all depends on the next few days.
What was discussed in Doha is based on a plan presented by the United States in May to end the war. It consists of three phases.
The first would be a six-week cease-fire in which Israeli troops would withdraw from Gaza. Some hostages kidnapped on October 7 and hundreds of Palestinians detained in Israel would be released.
JOE BIDEN
President of the United States
There are a number of details to negotiate to move from phase one to phase two. Israel will want to make sure its interests are protected. But the proposal says if negotiations take longer than six weeks for phase one, the ceasefire will still continue as long as negotiations continue.
If the agreement is reached, the next step is phase two, in which all hostages would be released. The last phase would then focus on the reconstruction of Gaza.
The U.S. proposal was endorsed by the UN Security Council in June. Russia was the only country to abstain.
The result of the voting is as follows: 14 votes in favor, zero votes against, one absence. The draft resolution has been adopted as resolution 2735.
A few days later, it was also supported by the G7 Summit, which issued a joint statement after its meeting in southern Italy. And the European Union responded positively, as expressed by two of its senior officials.
Joe Biden's initial proposal has been subject to changes and the details have not been made public. According to the Secretary of State, who traveled to Israel for the ninth time while the talks were taking place in Doha, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu accepted the latest U.S. proposal.
ANTONY BLINKEN
United States Secretary of State
In a very constructive meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu today, he confirmed to me that Israel accepts the bridging proposal, that he supports it. It's now incumbent on Hamas to do the same.
Following these statements, Hamas rejected the new terms of the plan discussed in Doha. But there are still areas that Qatar, the United States and Egypt are trying to mediate. The negotiations are not over yet; they are just switching stages: from Doha to Cairo.
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