Afifa warns of occupation exploiting Cairo understandings to turn them into a time-management round

Political analyst and writer Wissam Afifa warned of the Israeli occupation exploiting the Cairo understandings, turning them into a time-management round. He pointed out that the positive US stance on Hamas's observations could be the 'password' to move from negotiating words to testing implementation, but stressed that the agreement remains contingent on the mediators' ability to compel Israel to implement.

Political analyst and writer Wissam Afifa, in a special statement to the newspaper 'Palestine', warned of the possibility of the Israeli occupation resorting to exploiting the Cairo understandings, where a delegation from the Hamas movement is participating in negotiations with mediators on a ceasefire agreement, and the representative of the Peace Council, Nikolay Mladenov. Afifa explained that what is new in the Cairo negotiations is not Hamas making a sudden concession, nor Israel showing a declared readiness to implement, but rather that the US position was more positive towards the latest version of Mladenov's paper, which Hamas and factions participated in amending, describing this position as the 'password', which may result in a transition from 'negotiating words to testing implementation'. He pointed out that the shift began about three weeks ago through a Palestinian channel communicating with the US side, led by a Palestinian businessman from the West Bank, which conveyed to the movement a positive US stance on its latest observations. Afifa stated that the current optimism does not mean the agreement is accomplished, but rather that the margin of Palestinian disagreement with Mladenov's paper has narrowed significantly, and that Washington has become more convinced that Hamas and the factions have offered the maximum possible. He affirmed that the real test is no longer in the formulations, but in applying the principle of simultaneity: a Palestinian step met by an Israeli step, and completing each stage before moving to the next. If this rule turns into guarantees, a timeline, and a monitoring mechanism, one can speak of a real breakthrough. But if Israeli approval remains selective or subject to reinterpretation, the current positivity could turn into another round of time management.