The pan-Arab Daily Newspaper Al-Hayat quotes a senior Fatah official who said that an Israel and Hamas were close to a deal but the Qatari government threatened to expel the Hamas political bureau chief, Khaled Mashaal, if the Islamist terror group agreed to the cease-fire being negotiated in Cairo. Apparently Qatar was upset they were no part of negotiations.
According to the JPost:
Mashaal, who is based in Qatar, has been blamed by Israeli officials in recent days for sabotaging a long-term truce along the Gaza front by repeatedly making new demands that Jerusalem is unwilling to meet.If the Al-Hayat report is true then the break down of talks falls directly at the feet of John Kerry. It was the United States Secretary of State who initially brought Qatar into the talks over the objections of Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority. Now that those parties have frozen out the terrorist-funding Qatar, the Qatari government want to make sure they don't succeed.
The Fatah official told Al-Hayat that Hamas has insisted that Qatar be given a seat at the negotiating table in Cairo. According to the official, Hamas wants either the Qatari foreign minister or the head of intelligence to be permitted to take part in the discussions.
Egypt has adamantly refused to permit Qatar to participate in the cease-fire talks, according to the report. Cairo wants a Qatari apology for the government's policies toward Egypt since the military coup against the Muslim Brotherhood brought Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to power.
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