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Senior Hamas officials are in Qatar for talks about a possible 5 year truce with Israel, this according to a report made by Israel Radio. Hamas deputy leader Mussa Abu Marzouk is said to be among the group.
According to the report, the cease fire proposal is based on one put forward by UN special envoy to the Middle East Nikolay Mladenov and which has the support of both Turkey and Qatar.
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If the truce succeeds, then Hamas will be able to move forward with its plans for a new port in Gaza as well as a new airport.
Details of the deal, if there is one, have not been revealed. So it is not clear what, if any, guarantees Israel would have that Hamas will end its plans for acts of terrorism against it. For example, how can Israel be sure that Hamas will shut down all of its terror tunnels that lead into Israel and build no new ones?
Another complication for any deal are the recent lone rocket attacks on Israel which came out of Gaza. But Hamas has denied any involvement in them, putting the blame on smaller groups.
There is one thing that could get Israel and Hamas to agree to a truce: Islamic State. The current most feared terrorist group in the world has caused some very strange alliances. America and Iran are on the same side against it in Iraq and Israel certainly does not wish to see it take over Syria.
Hamas is also opposed to IS and has very publicly executed IS members in Gaza.
But the biggest gain for Israel in any deal would be a counter to the BDS. If Israel agrees to open its blockade of Gaza then it would deprive the boycott Israel movement of its strongest piece of propaganda against the country.
