Steve Witkoff Archives - CrossFireArarbia

BoP and The Lurking Devil!

Saleem Ayoub Quna
March 5, 2026

Eight months ago and precisely in June 2025, the US and Israel launched their first combined “Midnight Hammer” military operation against Iran, in an attempt to obliterate its controversial nuclear facilities, set since 2018, to be settled through negotiations between the US and Iran. Prior to that strike, not Ukraine nor Venezuela or Greenland, but Gaza was the hottest issue on Trump’ international agenda, as he was applying the final touches on his anticipated peace plan for the devastated tiny strip! On 26 January this year, i.e. nearly a month ago, Trump from Davos, in Switzerland, proudly announced the birth of BoP, “The Board of Peace”, which he would preside over forever.

To enhance his initiative’s chances to succeed, Trump had invited world leaders to join his new born club for peace. Those who responded favorably had little choice to do otherwise, and some of them promised to contribute billions of dollars to make the plan work. Other big shots such as Russia, France or China were either not interested or invited!

The last one to join the club, but reluctantly, was no other than the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, despite his direct involvement in the thick of the matter. Netanyahu thought the plan was naïve and amateurish in more than one aspect! So he would send his Foreign Minister to attend the signing ceremony in Davos, for his own thoughts were focused on other more important issues that would take place later! Regardless of Netanyahu’s caveats, the Trump BoP seemed to be one of few feasible options to stop the violence and killing committed by Israel.

in Gaza, and a shy start towards a peaceful transition in Gaza and beyond despite the many loopholes.
On this occasion Trump said: “This is a big, big day, a beautiful day, potentially one of the great days ever in civilization”. The he added: “I am not talking about Gaza. Gaza is one thing, but we are talking about
much beyond Gaza. The whole deal, everything getting solved. It is called peace in the Middle East”. While this BoP was hailed as an achievement for Trump’s diplomacy, envisaged by his top capable advisor to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and his assistant Jared Kushner, Trump’s trusted son-in-law, it whistled disaster in Netanyahu’s ears.

From this man’s point of view, if the BoP was put on track of the peace train, let alone its arrival at its desired destination, it would mean one thing and nothing else: the end of Gaza tragedy which also meant the end of Netanyahu’s political career. For him, it looked like a trap that he had, knowingly but unwillingly, a role in setting up. At this crucial moment the manipulative devil and the survival instinct in
Netanyahu, were awakened and pushed him to embark on planning a reversal of this momentum. He had to end this nonsense talk about peace for Gaza, let alone beyond! For certain, he regretted his consent to the suspension of the Midnight-Hammer strike back in June against Iran. Now time is running short for him again.

He needs to take a big and last gamble to divert Trump’s current menacing approach to solve the thorny issues in this region. He, prematurely, and ahead of his originally scheduled visit to the US, books
a meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, thus effecting his sixth meeting with Trump in less than a year!

There, he presents his case: Today, he tells Trump, Iran is the biggest real danger facing Israel and the free world led by the US; Iran is stockpiling an arsenal of all kinds of deadly missiles; the majority of
Iranians want the US to help them topple the regime which is massacring the protesters in the streets; Iranian negotiating team are just buying more time; it is now or a never again chance to finish this
nightmare called Iran, after its proxies in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Gaza and Lebanon were defeated earlier.
Trump submissively listened, as Netanyahu managed to put a hold on every other item on Trump’s agenda, including his cherished BoP project for which he hoped to be nominated for the Nobel Prize for
peace!

Today as the war against Iran goes into its sixth day, two things and plus are crystal clear; there will be no peace prizes, and there will lot of havoc and chaos on the ground, plus the devil in Netanyahu, will be the happiest breathing creature around, for the time being!

News

Araghchi: US Contacts Maintained Now!

CrossFireArabia
January 12, 2026

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Monday evening that contacts between him and US envoy Steve Witkoff “continued before and after the protests, and are still ongoing.”

Iran is “ready for all options,” Araghchi told the Qatar-based Al Jazeera television.

The top diplomat expressed hope that Washington would choose “the wise option,” amid ongoing exchanges between the two sides.

“Some ideas are on the table with Washington and are currently being studied” by Tehran, he said, without giving further details.

However, he stressed that “it is not possible to combine the ideas proposed by Washington with its launching of threats against our country.”

On the possibility of a direct meeting with Witkoff, Araghchi said “there are ideas being discussed,” according to Anadolu.

News

Hamas: ‘Blair Not Welcomed in Palestine’

CrossFireArabia
September 29, 2025

The Palestinian group Hamas said Sunday that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is “an unwelcome figure in the Palestinian context,” stressing it has not received any proposal through mediators regarding a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

The remarks came from senior Hamas political bureau member Husam Badran published by the group on Telegram.

They followed a report in Israel’s Haaretz daily quoting an Arab political source as saying the US administration has drawn up a plan to appoint Blair to head a temporary administration in Gaza.

Badran said linking any plan to Blair “is an ominous sign for the Palestinian people,” describing him as “a negative figure who deserves to stand before international courts for his crimes, especially his role in the war on Iraq (from 2003–2011).”

He went further, calling Blair “the devil’s brother,” and said he “has brought nothing good to the Palestinian cause, the Arabs or the Muslims, and his criminal, destructive role has been well known for years.”

Badran stressed that managing Palestinian affairs in Gaza or the West Bank is an “internal matter that must be decided through national consensus, not imposed by any regional or international party.”

“The Palestinian people are capable of managing themselves; we have the resources and expertise to run our own affairs and our relations with the region and the world,” he added.

He revealed that since December 2023, Hamas’ leadership had made an internal decision — shared with Palestinian factions and friendly states — that it does not want to continue governing Gaza alone, even before the escalation of war and destruction according to Anadolu.

On reported ceasefire proposals, Badran said: “We have not received any official proposal through mediators, which is the usual channel for such initiatives.”

He added that so far, everything being circulated “comes only through the media, whether attributed to (US President Donald) Trump or others.”

He noted this is not the first time that Washington, in coordination with Israel, has floated ideas and initiatives that later take time to be finalized and formally conveyed through mediators.

Earlier Sunday, Hamas said in a separate statement that ceasefire talks have been suspended since Israel’s failed assassination attempt against Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar on Sept. 9 and that it has received no new proposals in this regard.

This comes after Trump last Tuesday presented a 21-point plan to Arab and Muslim leaders on the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly in New York aimed at ending Israel’s two-year war on Gaza.

On Aug. 18, Hamas agreed to a mediator proposal for a partial ceasefire and prisoner exchange, but Israel failed to respond, despite the plan matching an earlier initiative put forward by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and approved by Tel Aviv.

The Israeli opposition and families of captives accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of blocking any potential deal to end the war and bring home their relatives in order to protect his political survival.

Domestically, Netanyahu faces corruption charges that could land him in prison if convicted, while the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for him on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza.

The Israeli army has killed over 66,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza since October 2023. The relentless bombardment has rendered the enclave uninhabitable and led to starvation and the spread of diseases.

Opinion

Trump, Witkoff Need To Stop The Netanyahu Tune

CrossFireArabia
August 7, 2025

By Michael Jansen

Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has said, “There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza.” Israel has enabled “humanitarian aid throughout the duration of the war to enter Gaza – otherwise, there would be no Gazans.”

However, Gaza’s government media office told Al-Jazeera that only 674 aid trucks have entered Gaza since Israel eased restrictions on July 27, averaging just 84 laden trucks per day. This is only 14 per cent of needs as humanitarian organisations say at least 600 trucks of water, food, medicine and fuel are required at a minimum.

Echoing Netanyahu, US regional envoy Steve Wikoff proclaimed there is “no starvation” in Gaza after a brief visit to one of the aid delivery hubs in the Strip. “There is hardship but no starvation,” he said. His assessment appeared to contradict his boss Donald Trump who had said there is “real starvation.”

“Once we refute this Hamas claim, we can continue new actions to end the war and bring back all the hostages” held by Hamas, Witkoff said. He added that Trump believes piecemeal deals do not work and so a new arrangement is needed that would free the hostages all at once.

However, Witkoff argued that only Hamas “total surrender” and disarmament would be accepted. Writing in Haaretz daily on 2 August, Amir Tibon decries Netanyahu’s decision to carry on with the war, despite opposition from most Israelis and Israel’s foreign friends. “Israel’s military leadership admits today that the last five months have been a wasted effort, and that it would have been preferable for Israel to continue the January 2025 ceasefire, get the rest of the hostages out of Gaza in an agreement, and conclude the war.”

He is sharply critical of the Trump administration which “gave Netanyahu total backing for this disastrous policy, including his decision to block all aid from coming into Gaza, which caused the humanitarian crisis there. “Consequently, Witkoff’s latest visit has been met with popular Israeli “disappointment over the Trump administration’s failure to rein in Netanyahu and bring the Gaza war to an end.”

This means that there will be no quick fix under pressure from starvation even though Israelis held captive by Hamas are suffering the same lack of nourishment as their captors. The International Committee of the Red Cross has been asked to provide food for the captives but not the 2.3 million hungry Palestinians in Gaza.

Witkoff has been contradicted by the UN-supported Integrated Food Security Phase Classification” (IPC) which has warned that “the worse-case scenario of famine” is unfolding as 60,000 Palestinians died from bombs and bullets and an untold toll, especially among children, is being gripped by hunger and malnourishment. IPC called for a ceasefire to avert further “catastrophic human suffering.” The total number of people who have died from hunger-related causes since the start of the war in October 2023 has risen to more than 181, including 94 children. This does not include the 1,400 who have been killed by Israeli army fire when trying to secure aid at the highly controversial US-Israel Gaza Humanitarian Foundation which has not alleviated starvation but given a false image of US and Israeli efforts to deliver food.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the IPC alert “confirms what we have heard. The facts are in and they are undeniable. Palestinians in Gaza are enduring a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions. This is not a warning. It is a reality unfolding before our eyes.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared it was “beyond comprehension” for Israel to claim starvation was not an issue in Gaza and accused Israel of breaching international law by blocking aid.

Netanyahu is personally responsible for torpedoing January’s ceasefire agreement which would have led to the release of Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, Israel military withdrawal from Gaza, and an end to the war. Instead on 2 March, he imposed the blockade and on 18 March, he resumed the war. Tibon summed up, “Netanyahu, for political reasons, chose to blow up the deal, restart the war, and bring us to where we are today: Our hostages are being starved and tortured, our soldiers are dying, and the entire world is turning against us due to the broader humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.”

As the 15 August 20th anniversary approaches of the beginning of Israel’s withdrawal of settlers and soldiers from Gaza, 600 retired Israeli security officials have written to Trump to ask him to pressure Netanyahu to end the war. This group included former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo, former Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and former Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon.

Ayalon argued: “At first this war was a just war, a defensive war, but when we achieved all military objectives, this war ceased to be a just war…It is our professional judgement that Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel,” the officials stated. “Your credibility with the vast majority of Israelis augments your ability to steer [Netanyahu] and his government in the right direction: End the war, return the hostages, stop the suffering.”

On the political front, this policy has contributed to decisions by Britain, France, Canada and half a dozen other countries to recognize the state of Palestine during next month’s opening of the 80th UN General Assembly session. Although recognized by 147 of the 193 UN members, many Western countries have delayed recognition. The addition of Britain and France will mean four of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (which includes China and Russia) will recognize Palestine while the US will remain the outlier as it is on any effort to criticize or rein in Israel.

Michael Jansen is a columnist for The Jordan Times

Uncategorized

Witkoff, Starvation and Gaza

CrossFireArabia
August 3, 2025

By Ali Saada

The visit of US envoy Steve Witkoff to the Gaza Strip is nothing more than a certificate of good conduct to war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu and his gang, and an endorsement for them to continue their war of starvation and to implementing their plan, which aligns with the desires, wishes, and dreams of Donald Trump and his “Gaza Riviera.”

It is an attempt to abort, calm, and cool the growing international outcry and anger over the massacres perpetrated against those awaiting aid, and an attempt to whitewash the ugly face of the US administration.

This is a propaganda and media appearance, drenched in blood, at the expense of the suffering and lives of Gaza’s children and women, by officials who lack even the most basic sense of humanity. This is intended to present a “false” image of the humanitarian situation, to downplay the impact of the images of famine and starvation spreading globally, and to suggest that the situation is under control.

What the occupation wants is an agreement that preserves its interests and ensures the removal of Hamas from power. This agreement may include arrangements for the “transfer of the population of the Gaza Strip,” without committing to reconstruction or substantially alleviating the humanitarian situation.

The agreement should be limited to the entry of aid, a partial withdrawal, a prisoner exchange, and a permanent ceasefire.

In any case, the US administration bears full responsibility for the worsening famine in the Gaza Strip. According to dozens of UN organizations and civil society institutions, including Israeli “human rights” organizations, as well as press and human rights reports, the occupation is committing genocide and, along with American snipers and mercenaries, has transformed aid distribution centers into death traps.

The US aid company has become a lethal criminal tool contributing to the engineering of hunger and the killing of civilians, in a scheme that goes beyond starvation and killing to the destruction of the foundations of Palestinian life and existence, as a starting point for the forced displacement project. The US administration is an essential part of the war of starvation against the Palestinian people, working directly to support the occupation and cover up its crimes.

Wittkoff’s visit to the US aid company is an official American cover for continuing its crimes against the starving and an attempt to point to a blatant moral collapse. It is an attempt to beautify the image of the occupation and fabricate lies about the reality of aid. The truth is that famine is spreading and expanding in the Strip, amid the blocking of aid, the closure of crossings, and the creation of chaos in Gaza by aid-stealing gangs operating under Israeli protection.

Witkoff’s visit is clear evidence of the need to include the United States in the cases before the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, as a de facto partner and complicit in the genocide and war crimes committed in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

This article was originally published in Arabic in Al Sabeel electronic newspaper in Amman.