Bolton skeptical about cease-fire talks: Israel's still 'really far apart'

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton said he is skeptical that the end of cease-fire negotiations are near, following an announcement from the White House that talks will continue into next week.

An anonymous U.S. official told the Associated Press Friday that mediators are preparing for a cease-fire and hostage-swap deal.

“The real question is, exactly what is going to come in addition to the hostage exchange, and this is the place where Hamas and Israel, I think, are really far apart,” Bolton told NewsNation Friday afternoon.

“Hamas' idea of a cease-fire is a permanent cease-fire and a withdrawal of all Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip — a synonym for that is ‘end of the war.’ For Israel, cease-fire means a time-limited, 4, 6, 8, weeks, something after which the hostilities could resume,” he added.

Bolton’s remarks come as mediators from the U.S., Israel, Qatar, Egypt, and Hamas concluded two days of talks in Doha, Qatar. The U.S. hopes to conclude negotiations over the next week, with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken set to arrive in Israel on Sunday for intensive talks. 

President Biden, however, cautioned against an early celebration, saying that more work would be needed before an agreement was reached.

“I don’t want to jinx anything … we’re not there yet,” he said in remarks from the Oval Office on Friday.

A senior administration official described Friday that they introduced a “final bridging proposal,” that provided clarification to the broader proposal the White House presented Israel and Hamas in May. 

Bolton noted that the proposal could prove less productive for the negotiations than the officials let on.

“What the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar have announced, basically, is what they call a bridging proposal, meaning, it’s not necessarily the case that either the Israelis or Hamas, or certainly not both of them, have agreed to it,” he explained.

The U.S. is seeking to reach a cease-fire agreement as Iran eyes a retaliatory attack on Israel after the alleged assassination of Hamas’s top political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran at the end of July.

“I think Iran very much fears that Netanyahu and the Israelis this time, will not be restrained by the United States, but will strike very, very hard in Iran against highly prized targets, up to, and including, the nuclear weapons program,” Bolton noted.

“Iran's got a very tight line to walk here, and I think that's the real cause of the delay,” he added, alleging Iran's shadow lingered over the negotiations.

Biden first introduced the administration’s three-stage plan to peace in the region at the end of May. His proposal, which includes the return of hostages and a permanent end of hostilities in the region, was endorsed by the U.N. Security Council.