As with the testimony of Gershon Baskin about the actual diplomatic outreach to Hamas by the Trump administration, that of another important intermediary, the Palestinian-American Bishara Bahbah, can be invaluable in removing dangerous media generalizations. Bahbah’s Sept. 17 interview as quoted in the Jerusalem Post with the U.A.E.’s Al-Ain news describes him as “a Palestinian-American academic,” who has “emerged as a key back channel intermediary between Hamas and the Trump administration.”
An early success was a role he played in the freeing of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, released by Hamas simply as a good faith gesture, without any trade involved. Washington had indicated that such a unique gesture would open doors.
Now, he is involved in trying to keep the previous lines of communication open. Though critical of Hamas’ execution of looters and murderers, on account of an open trial being denied, he knows of the horrifying discrepancy in violations between the two sides. Al-Ain reported, reports the Jerusalem Post: “The mediator said, ‘I recently received a message from Hamas asking me to send a message to the White House. The content of the message related to the ongoing ‘Israeli violations’ on the ground, and they asked me to convey the situation to the American side.’” Part of this is the Hamas claim that Israel has not fully withdrawn to the “Yellow Line” of demarcation. Many killings of Gazans have occurred with Israel claiming victims crossed over the line and represented a perceived threat to the IDF soldiers.
Bahbah continues to assure Al-Ain Arab audience, along with the Hamas’ mediators, as quoted in the Jerusalem Post that “the U.S. administration is determined to implement the agreement in its entirety, perhaps not as quickly as we had hoped, but it will be implemented as is.” One delay has been the transparently specious claim of Israel that they can deprive Gaza of aid trucks, since Hamas is cheating on returning the bodies of dead hostages. He explained: “There are four reasons for the delay in returning the bodies: First, Israel prevented heavy equipment from entering the area to remove the rubble. Some bodies were buried under a seven-story building that Israel completely bombed. That means seven floors of rubble must be removed before any bodies can be found.” The presence of unexploded bombs or munitions delays efforts, so “specialists are needed.”
