“Incompetent”, “a crazy fucking idiot” and “without diplomatic experience or knowledge”. There are descriptions used about US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in his attempt to resolve the Ukraine war.
With regard to the agreement between Israel and Hamas, Witkoff is praised, on the other hand, and highlighted as “absolutely central” in the fact that an agreement was finally put in place.
– Steve Witkoff is a “dealmaker”, and without Witkoff none of this would have happened, says the American-born Israeli peace activist Gershon Baskin to Dagbladet.
He himself has been involved in the talks that have led to today’s agreement between Israel and Hamas.
To Dagbladet, Baskin also reveals events that could have overturned the entire agreement.
– Could have been resolved last year
During the two-year-long Gaza war, Baskin has been heavily involved in the effort to get an agreement in place that was palatable to both Israel and Hamas.
In that regard, he has repeatedly expressed himself very critically about the Netanyahu government’s efforts to reach an agreement.
With his many Palestinian and Israeli contacts, Baskin was also the key negotiator between Israel and Hamas when the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was released after five years in captivity in Gaza in 2011.
Gershon
Baskin
American-Israeli expert and peace activist
Baskin is clear in his case: The agreement that was signed by Israel and Hamas last week could have been signed a long time ago, he claims.
– Hamas agreed to all the same terms in September 2024 in what became known as the “three-week agreement”. I received it in writing and as a voice message in both Arabic and English. But at the time, the response from the Israeli negotiators was that “the prime minister did not agree to end the war”, says Baskin to Dagbladet.
SURPRISED: When US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff mentioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his speech, the audience began to boo.
– Symbolized weakness
Much of the blame for an agreement not being reached earlier, Baskin puts on President Joe Biden and his administration.
The “Treukers Agreement” ended up on President Biden’s table, claims Baskin. Nevertheless, Biden’s top advisor for the Middle East and responsible for the peace negotiations, Bret McGurk, refused to depart from the proposal that resulted in neither the release of all the hostages nor an end to the war.
He believes this frustration was also evident in the American negotiating team.
– I met members of the negotiation team in October 2024, and they were as frustrated as I was that they were unable to convince Biden and Biden’s people to take a serious look at the agreement that was on the table, he says to Dagbladet.
The US presidency met the Finnish president and prime minister on Thursday, and talked about the peace agreement between Israel and Hamas. Video: Reuters
As a result, Baskin recounts the same message from both Qatari authorities and Egyptian intelligence:
– Hamas was ready for an agreement to release all the hostages, to no longer rule Gaza, and to end the war. But Israel was not ready.
The first, actual breakthrough came a few weeks before Trump was to be re-instated as president, claims Baskin.
At the time, Trump warned that “hell” would be unleashed on Hamas if an agreement was not reached before he was sworn in on 20 January.
He himself is said to have been asked by the then head of the Shin Bet intelligence service, Ronen Bar, not to use his back channels against Hamas, because “in three weeks there will be a ceasefire agreement”.
– For me, it became clear that President Biden showed American weakness, while President Trump showed American strength. From that moment on, December 26, 2024, it was clear to me that the only way the war would end was when President Trump decided that the war had to end.
Interrupted by shouts in the hall
Close to walking in gravel
Baskin fast forwards to 8 September, i.e. just over a month ago.
After what he describes as “countless hours of working through back channels” to Hamas to prepare a proposal, Hamas was sent the American proposal.
The information Baskin received from the American side was that Hamas’s leadership would use the next day to discuss the proposal and get clarifications from the Americans – through both himself and the Qataris.
But the following day it collapsed in a residential area of Qatar‘s capital, Doha.
An Israeli attack was aimed directly at Hamas’s top exile leader Khalil al-Hayya, who has also led Hamas’s negotiating team. Five Hamas members and a Qatari security guard were killed in the attack, but al-Hayya and other senior Hamas figures survived the attack.
CRYING: Australian TV personality Sharri Markson couldn’t hold back the tears as the last 20 living Israeli hostages were released by Hamas. Reporter: Jostein Sletten / Dagbladet. Video: Sky News Australia
Both Hamas and Qatar were furious. According to Baskin, Hamas was convinced that the attack could not have happened without Trump’s consent.
– Despite the Americans denying a role in this, Hamas no longer trusted that Trump or the Americans acted in good faith. The proposed US guarantees for an agreement were no longer relevant, says Baskin.
He himself was asked by the Americans to tell the Hamas leadership that the Americans were completely innocent.
According to Baskin, this night he received the following message from Steve Witkoff:
“We had nothing to do with this. They (the Israelis) have apologized to us. Their statement confirms this. And the President’s Truth Social post confirms it.”
– But Hamas’ message to me was that they did not trust the Americans, because Israel could not have attacked in Doha without American consent, says Baskin.
Video to show Hamas executions
Pressed Netanyahu
Despite the fact that Trump had been clear on Truth Social by coming out hard against both the attack and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a number of experts believed that the negotiations were now over.
Perhaps Qatar’s time as a broker was also over after this, some thought.
Baskin also claims the same. Despite repeated attempts to restart the negotiations, this phase was put to rest with the attack in Qatar.
– Hamas was in a state of paralysis and did not know what to do or how to return to talks about ending the war, summarizes Baskin.
But that the opportunities were gone would prove to be wrong. Much suggests, on the contrary, that this attack was what prompted Trump to push Netanyahu into a Gaza agreement.
PEACE: Scenes of jubilation have broken out after Hamas and Israel reached an agreement on a peace agreement for Gaza on Thursday night.
– Late in the evening on September 19, Witkoff called me and said “we have a plan”. We had a long conversation. I supported what the Americans were planning, and I made some suggestions on how to get Hamas on board. I was asked to convince the Hamas leadership that Trump meant business and wanted the war to end.
Just ten days later, on September 29, Trump and Netanyahu stood together in the White House where they announced that Israel had agreed.
A few days later, Trump also did something as unusual as sharing an article from the New York Times on Truth Social. The article had the following title: “How Trump’s fury over the attack in Qatar pushed Netanyahu on the issue of Gaza”.
Biden pays tribute to Trump
“Brilliant”
Baskin highlights several aspects of the US negotiating team and procedure which he believes have been “brilliant”, and absolutely essential to reach an agreement.
- That Trump bound Netanyahu to the agreement.
- That Trump and Witkoff made sure that Qatar’s prime minister, Egypt’s intelligence minister and Turkey’s intelligence chief all stood together on the last necessary push against Hamas.
- Bringing Jared Kushner into the final round of negotiations.
– Without Witkoff, none of this would have happened. Witkoff speaks for the president, and everyone knows it, says Baskin.
It is the American-born Israeli minister Ron Dermer who has led the Israeli negotiating team. Baskin believes Kushner has managed to change Dermer’s role from what until now has been “to destroy any chance of ending the war from the Israeli side”.
He himself has never tried to influence his own government, claims Baskin. That’s because he thinks it would be a waste.
– For over a year, I have believed that if President Trump decides that the war must end, then Trump will force Netanyahu into the agreement. That’s exactly what happened.
As for US-Israeli negotiator Ron Dermer, Baskin also makes a prediction:
– In the near future, Ron Dermer will work for Kushner, not for Netanyahu.
