Israel’s shock airstrikes against Qatar appear to have lit a fire under the President Donald Trump administration’s efforts to end the brutal war in Gaza—even as agreement on terms of any ceasefire remains uncertain as ever.
Qatar’s emir has described last month’s bombing attack against a residential compound in Doha, which killed several members of Hamas’ senior political leadership along with a Qatari security officer, as “a flagrant violation of its sovereignty and security, and a clear violation of the rules and principles of international law.”
U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who’s married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka and holds an informal Middle East advisory role in his administration, were initially dismayed by what they felt was a blow to their work hammering out terms of a peace deal between Israel and Hamas, Axios reports.
But four sources with knowledge of the attack’s fallout told the outlet both Witkoff and Kushner quickly came to see the crisis as a new opportunity. “The Arabs were speaking with one voice,” one source said of the outcry that followed. “It became clear, particularly to Steve, that this rallying cry that seemed negative at first could be turned into something positive.”
In the days leading up to last week’s UN General Assembly, Qatari officials arranged a sit-down with Trump and the leaders of other Arab and Muslim countries to discuss the strike on Doha and the ongoing war in Gaza.
During that meeting, those leaders are understood to have taken “turns slamming Israel,” according to Axios, before Trump eventually turned to Witkoff and said “tell them what you have been working on.”
The Special Envoy then took the opportunity to present the group with a 21-point plan, devised by himself and Kushner, for bringing an end to the conflict. The document appears to have been well-met, with a preliminary agreement on the text reached by last Wednesday before it was in turn shared with Israeli officials.
The following afternoon, Witkoff and Kushner met with Netanyahu at his New York hotel, during which it reportedly became clear there were “wide gaps” between the U.S. and Israeli positions on any prospective ceasefire.
As Netanyahu delivered his fiery and defiant speech to the UN General Assembly on Friday, during which he struck an unrepentant tone and made no mention of the new proposals, Witkoff and Kushner continued talks with Israeli officials well into the weekend.
When rumors began to circulate that Netanyahu may have been planning to outright reject the pair’s proposals, a source told Axios that Trump placed a “stern and clear” call to the Israeli prime minister on Saturday ahead of a scheduled White House sit-down on Monday.
“Trump told Bibi in no uncertain terms: ‘Take it or leave it. And leave it means we walk away from you’,” the source explained. “Donald Trump has had enough, for many reasons.”
The president eventually published the proposals at a joint press conference with Netanyahu on Monday, containing provisions for an immediate ceasefire, amnesty for Hamas members who disarm, a transitional “Board of Peace” to run Gaza, in part under the leadership of former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair, and the release of all living and deceased hostages still held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners taken since the Oct. 7 attacks.
Notably excluded from the plans are any recognition of Palestinian statehood. Behind the scenes, Arab leaders, who had pushed for their own edits to the text, are understood to have been “furious at how many changes Netanyahu had managed to insert,” to the point at which Qatari officials had implored Witkoff and Kushner not to release the document pending further discussions.
The plans have in any case met with a markedly cold reception from Hamas, with a senior-ranking member of the group telling the BBC earlier on Tuesday they are almost certain to reject the proposal, which they say “serves Israel’s interests” and “ignores those of the Palestinian people.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment on this story.
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