Politics & Diplomacy
Israeli analyst crowns Qatar the real winner of the Gaza deal
Graphic: Times of Palestine
Original Reporting
Hamas's acceptance of President Donald Trump's Gaza framework handed its clearest strategic prize not to Washington but to Qatar, the Gulf scholar Yoel Guzansky argued Thursday in the pro-Netanyahu daily Israel Hayom.
Doha's success in delivering Hamas's yes is an achievement regardless of whether the deal is ever fully carried out, he wrote, and reading what comes next requires reading Qatari interests rather than Qatari rhetoric.
The common mistake, in his telling, is to treat Qatar as a neutral mediator. It mediates with two clear aims: proving to the United States that no substitute exists for its brokering role, and widening its influence in the Palestinian arena, with Hamas the central tool for both.
That produces Doha's core dilemma as Guzansky frames it: a weakened Hamas suits Qatar, but a Hamas erased from Palestinian politics would cost it a lever of influence. Hence the pressure on the movement to accept the plan, alongside likely resistance to any implementation that wipes it off the political map.
If the agreement collapses, he predicted, Doha will argue Hamas showed flexibility and Israel blocked the way, messaging Qatar, Egypt and Turkey have already begun. The real test comes at implementation, when Qatar must choose between American trust and preserving the asset that made it the region's indispensable broker.
