The US Holds Direct Talks With Hamas: An Admission of Failure?

Dear Friends,

Following the impasse, and constant Israeli obstructions, of phase two of the ceasefire agreement between the Palestinian Resistance and the Zionist Entity, leaks by Axios on the fifth of March indicated that the US is currently pursuing direct talks with Hamas in order to both release American-Israeli settler prisoners held by the resistance as well as to pave the way for a long-term ceasefire deal. After the leaks were published, a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the existence of such talks.

At the Good Shepherd Collective, we usually shy away from publicizing leaks – particularly those coming from Zionist outlets like Axios and settler writers like Barak Ravid – but the confirmation by the US of such talks necessitates analyzing the news further.

The US, through extending an infinite air bridge of weaponry and political support of Israel, is a primary instigator of the genocide in Gaza, and is as such the de facto war leader. Hamas, on the other hand, is designated as a terror group by the US and Europe. Talks like this indicate a paradigm shift: that Hamas is able to sit down with the de facto war leader, and negotiate a ceasefire without the mediator fluff, indicates that the US recognizes the current impasse and knows full-well that Hamas in its current form cannot be intimidated into signing something it does not agree on.

The very existence of such talks confirms the notion that the Palestinian resistance, although “degraded” as a result of a genocidal campaign, still holds a certain leverage against the US and Israel. In other words, the US had to be defeated in some form or fashion to come to the table.

Hours after the leak was published, US President Donald Trump began to threaten Hamas with total destruction if they didn't realize the prisoners in one fell swoop. If one compares Trump’s rhetoric with what’s happening in the annals of Realpolitik, one central idea shines through: that we need to look beyond Trump’s mafioso attitude and to shed light on the political processes binding a seemingly invincible empire like the US.

At the risk of sounding overly optimistic, we still do not fully know what Hamas will gain from these talks. It might be a net gain, a net loss, or a stalemate. However, the very existence of these talks indicate that the US recognizes that resistance, as many people have been saying, cannot be defeated militarily. The old militant dictum says: “For you to win, you need to completely destroy us. For us to win, we only need to survive.”

With Love and Solidarity,

Ameed Faleh