Qatar-based Hamas leaders pressured over Biden's Gaza ceasefire plan

Hamas leaders living in exile in Doha are under growing Qatari pressure to accept US proposals to end the Gaza war, sources close to the negotiations told The National on Friday.

The Palestinian group officials were told that they could face expulsion from the Gulf nation and face restrictions if the militant faction did not show flexibility.

The sources said the warnings were verbally delivered to the Hamas leadership, including political leader Ismail Haniyeh, during a stormy meeting in Doha on Wednesday with chief Qatari and Egyptian mediators. The meeting came after CIA director William Burns's visit.

The warnings, according to the sources, also included the freezing of Hamas assets outside Palestinian territories.

Hamas, which has solely ruled Gaza since 2007, is designated a terrorist organisation by the US, EU and Israel.

The sources said the meeting, during which the warnings were delivered, was one of three held in Doha on Wednesday.

The first meeting brought together Mr Burns, his Egyptian counterpart Abbas Kamel and Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdurrahman Al Thani. The second and third meetings were between the Egyptian and Qatari mediators, as well as Hamas officials.

“The second meeting is the one when the threats were delivered, participants raised their voices and tension was very high,” said one of the sources.

Late on Wednesday night, they said, a message from Hamas’s leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar vowed that Hamas would continue fighting until the group's conditions are met.

This image grab from a handout video released by the Israeli army shows what the army says is Hamas's chief, Yahya Sinwar, in Gaza. AFP

However, a Hamas source close to the negotiations downplayed the warnings, saying that the threat of expulsion is untrue and part of a "deliberate media campaign" against the group.

“We see this as part of a media pressure campaign on Hamas waged by the United States to pressure us into accepting the American and Israeli conditions in the proposals,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Sources in Doha also denied exerting pressure on any parties in the negotiations.

"Qatar plays the role of a neutral mediator and does not exert pressure on any party but works to bring perspectives closer together," the sources told The National.

"Qatar has hosted a political office for Hamas since 2012, in agreement with the United States, and has consistently facilitated mediation between Israelis and Palestinians. This role continues as long as it is useful and positive for resolving the conflict," they added.

The latest proposals to end the war in Gaza – which reached the eight-month mark on Friday – were announced by President Joe Biden on May 31. The proposals were also contained in a draft UN Security Council resolution distributed on Monday by the US.

The proposals lay out a three-phase plan, which Mr Biden said was an Israeli initiative.

They involve a six-week “full and complete ceasefire,” the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails and the return of the displaced to their homes across the coastal enclave.

It says a permanent ceasefire in Gaza would be subject to agreement between the concerned parties.

Hamas has yet to officially respond to the proposals, but the sources already said the militant group wanted a clear and firm commitment in writing by Israel that a permanent ceasefire would come into force as soon as the six-week phase ends.

Hamas's unhappiness with the current terms of the US proposals was evident in a brief statement released by the group on Wednesday night.

“The [Hamas] movement and resistance factions will deal positively and seriously with any agreement based on the complete cessation of the [Israeli] aggression, full withdrawal and an exchange of prisoners,” said the statement, attributed to Mr Haniyeh.

Palestinians sit on a vehicle as they flee Rafah due to Israeli military operations in the southern Gaza Strip city. Reuters

Hamas has long feared that Israel, in the absence of a firm commitment to a permanent ceasefire, would resume its military operations in Gaza when all the hostages are released.

Israel for its part has repeatedly said the war would not end until Hamas’s military and governing capabilities are wiped out.

Mr Burns has countered Hamas's condition that Israel makes a firm commitment to a permanent ceasefire by offering a guarantee that negotiations on a permanent ceasefire would begin as soon as the first six-week phase of the plan ends, the sources said.

Since last October, the Gaza war has had a single truce. It lasted a week and ended on December 1. Since then, mediators from the US, Egypt, and Qatar have been trying without success to broker another one.

The Gaza war was triggered by a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7 that left about 1,200 killed and saw the militants capture about 240 hostages they took back to Gaza.

The attack, the deadliest in one day since Israel was created in 1948, drew a devastating Israeli response that has to date killed more than 36,600 Palestinians and wounded more than twice that number. Most of the territory’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced and large swathes of built-up areas laid to waste.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Fireball

Moscow claimed it hit the largest military fuel storage facility in Ukraine, triggering a huge fireball at the site.

A plume of black smoke rose from a fuel storage facility in the village of Kalynivka outside Kyiv on Friday after Russia said it had destroyed the military site with Kalibr cruise missiles.

"On the evening of March 24, Kalibr high-precision sea-based cruise missiles attacked a fuel base in the village of Kalynivka near Kyiv," the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.

Ukraine confirmed the strike, saying the village some 40 kilometres south-west of Kyiv was targeted.

If you go

The flights
Etihad (etihad.com) flies from Abu Dhabi to Luang Prabang via Bangkok, with a return flight from Chiang Rai via Bangkok for about Dh3,000, including taxes. Emirates and Thai Airways cover the same route, also via Bangkok in both directions, from about Dh2,700.
The cruise
The Gypsy by Mekong Kingdoms has two cruising options: a three-night, four-day trip upstream cruise or a two-night, three-day downstream journey, from US$5,940 (Dh21,814), including meals, selected drinks, excursions and transfers.
The hotels
Accommodation is available in Luang Prabang at the Avani, from $290 (Dh1,065) per night, and at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp and Resort from $1,080 (Dh3,967) per night, including meals, an activity and transfers.