BICOM

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani held a secret meeting in Cyprus in June to discuss Gaza.

According to a report by Tal Shalev on Walla News, the secret meeting was to discuss Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and the return of captive Israeli civilians and the bodies of Israeli soldiers, held by Hamas. Israel and Qatar have official diplomatic relations.

The meeting took place while Lieberman was in Cyprus for talks with the Cypriot and Greek defence ministers about the possibility of constructing a seaport for Gaza as part of long-term truce between Israel and Hamas. The Qatari Foreign Minister was touring EU states as part of a wider visit and made a secret flight from Italy to Cyprus on 23 June.

Last week Channel 10 News claimed that Lieberman had originally met the Qatari envoy Muhammad al-Amadi at Larnaca airport in Cyprus during his visit. According to Barak Ravid, al-Amadi reportedly offered unspecified Qatari proposals for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, as well as solutions to the question of the Israeli captives. He also pledged $350m towards humanitarian projects in Gaza as part of any deal.

On 17 July al-Amadi told Al Jazeera that a five-to-ten year cease-fire was on the table. “Hamas and Israel reached a tacit understanding to keep their military confrontation at low intensity and avoid a full-scale war,” he said, stressing that “it [would be] very difficult to fund the reconstruction of Gaza in [the] event of yet another destructive war”.

Qatar, a supporter of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, has taken an active role in Gaza ceasefire talks and has invested close to $500m in various projects in the Gaza Strip. According to reports, the long-term truce between Israel and Hamas will include Qatari funding for Gaza’s electricity bills in cooperation with Israel, and Qatari payment of civil service employees’ salaries in Gaza in cooperation with Egypt.