Kirby Yet Again Cites ‘Progress’ On Gaza Talks With CIA’s Burns In Cairo

Two weeks ago, White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby told a press briefing that a deal on Gaza is as “close as it’s ever been”. This came after months of overused football references of being ‘at the goal line’.

Now, on Friday, Kirby wants the world to know that the early signs from ongoing Cairo truce talks are “constructive” and that “progress” has been made.

“There has been progress made. We need now for both sides to come together and work toward implementation,” Kirby said, while admitting that talks thus far are preliminary in nature ahead of more in-depth discussions.

On Friday the White House also confirmed that CIA chief William Burns has once again been dispatched, and is taking part in Cairo talks, alongside Israeli intelligence director David Barnea.

But despite the typical optimism and the many prior instances of such rosy statements, and in the end statements which tend to prove meaningless (often resulting in brief oil sell-offs notwithstanding), the reality on the ground is that the warring sides do not appear closer to any peace agreement.

As we detailed Thursday, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)  have confirmed they will reject any agreement that does not include an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

“The position of the resistance and the Palestinian people on achieving any agreement is a comprehensive cessation of aggression, a complete withdrawal from the Strip, the start of reconstruction, and the end of the siege with a serious exchange deal,” the joint statement said. 

Burns’ presence at the talks doesn’t appear to have changed anything, following Blinken’s latest trip to Tel Aviv days ago.

Even Israeli media has blasted Blinken’s latest efforts, which some analysts say did more harm than good, and was really all about projecting PR back home as the Democratic National Convention is underway.

Officials speaking to Ynet described that “Blinken made a very serious foul here that indicates innocence, amateurism, naivety, and lack of understanding.”

They underscored that White House officials more simply want to issue optimistic statements in order to prevent the Gaza crisis from overshadowing the Democratic National Convention.

White House spokesman John Kirby said that CIA director Bill Burns arrived in Cairo on Friday and joined the talks on the Gaza hostage deal and the ceasefire. “The process is moving forward. It is important that all sides participate and that the parties continue to work towards…

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) August 23, 2024

Diplomatic sources privy to the negotiations said further of Secretary Blinken’s recent visit (machine translation), “He broadcast optimism from intra-American political considerations, so that the Democratic convention in Chicago would go smoothly, but senior officials of the Israeli negotiating team who listened to his press conference wanted to dispel the speculations.” 

At the same time, from the perspective of the Hamas and Arab side of negotiations, Washington has remained unwilling to bring real pressure to bear on Netanyahu, creating less incentive for the Israeli side to compromise or ‘give up’ anything substantive in order to receive back the hostages.