and it has happened before in the region. Even back during the period of the Mandate and it's end there were examples of things said in Arabic that didn't really accurately convey what was said in English etc. and vice-versa. Some of the old local leaders would get a wrong translation or only a partial one. Sometimes in diplomatic relations/negotiations between countries around the world this can be a gamesmanship sort of thing.

So you could get "negotiators" going to a meeting and saying that someone they represent had agreed to this or that when in fact they didn't really because the "deal" was misinterpreted. Then later on people are running on 2 different tracks. In the case of Netanyahu he is doing this purposely since he knows he can largely get away with saying it one way in Hebrew and then give it a different "twist" in English.

But yes, his Hebrew speeches as translations into English may be interesting to read, if done accurately.

My question is how this even become a negotiating point? Since when can't a country control its borders?

Is it because it's Israel?

Hmmm.

He is talking about controlling the Gaza border with the Egyptian Sinai peninsula.

The Israelis aready put down asphalt on their side.

Link to tweet

I watched his lecture on the history of the Philadelphi Corridor. He was clear that he was talking about the Gaza / Sinai border. Israel would not need to occupy Gaza to control its own border.

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Gaza has no independent status, in fact they are illegally being controlled by Hamas. Israel has every right to secure all of the southern border, including though Gaza.

Gaza is a humanitarian disaster. Israel does not want to control, or be responsible for, Gaza - just its borders. Gaza's, living in the rubble, are on their own.

Israel has no border with Egypt through Gaza.

But thanks for clarifying for us that you stand on the side of denying statehood and self-determination to Palestinians and taking their land for Israel.

It belongs to the Palestinian Authority, which represents Palestinian territories.

The negotiations are between two belligerent combatants, not two sovereign states, so the border in question is not an international border. In this case, it is the border that separates the sovereign state of Egypt and a war zone. Hamas has no legal claim to it, and neither does Israel. The entirety of the border between Egypt and the war zone is currently being controlled by IDF, a belligerent party in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. That certainly makes it a border between Israel's armed forces and Egypt, for as long as IDF controls it.

Gaza does not belong to Hamas, yet it is Hamas that makes demands on IDF presence in the Philadelphi corridor. If Bibi's demands are objectionable, so are Hamas'.