CIA director William Burns played a significant role in the mediation between Israel and Hamas following October 7, integrating his intelligence experience with his role as a negotiator, the New York Times revealed this week.
Burns – a a former diplomat – said he was “on the phone every day” with David Barnea, the Mossad chief, and Qatari PM Mohammed bin Abdulhrahman Al Thani.
Towing the line between diplomat and intelligence agent, Burns’s trips to the region are shrouded under a cloak of mystery. Burns told NYT that this stealth “makes it easier to come and go.”
“I think with intelligence work in general, you’re able to be a little bit more discreet than if you’re a diplomat.”
Burns called the Israel-Hamas negotiations “the most complicated negotiations I have been involved in, in the sense it was indirect talks twice removed.”
This is a reference to the somewhat proxy mediation between the fighting parties. Burns and Barnea negotiated with Qatar and Egypt, who in turn coordinated and relayed messages from Hamas leaders in Doha.
The ex situ Hamas leaders then negotiated with the in situ Hamas leaders in Gaza, who were underground.
These negotiations were of heightened importance, Burns added, due to the involvement of human factors.
“This wasn’t just about texts. It was about real human beings whose lives were in danger,” he told NYT, referring to the hostages and their families as well as Gazan civilians.
In total, Burns travelled to the region 19 times since the beginning of the war.
A near miss
It seemed, however, as though the trips were set to be fruitless, given the lack of a deal. As the time approached for Burns to leave the CIA on Friday, it seemed the mission would fail, however, a last minute deal was announced on Wednesday last week.
Burns said part of the reason for the final success of a deal was that Hamas’s military leaders were “beleaguered” by the degradation of their forces, but also because Israel’s strategic blows on Iran and Hezbollah had created space for political manoeuvrability.
“The Israeli political leadership is beginning to see that perfect is not on the menu here, but they have achieved a lot of what they want to achieve,” he told NYT.
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