“To say that we are getting close to a deal is an illusion,” Abu Zuhri told AFP.
We are not facing a deal or real negotiations, but rather the imposing of American diktats.
He was responding to Biden’s comment on Friday that “We are closer than we have ever been.”
Biden spoke after two days of talks in Qatar, where Washington sought to broker a ceasefire and captive-exchange deal between Israel and Hamas in the 10-month-old Gaza war.
In an effort to avert a broader conflict, Western and Arab diplomats have been shuttling around the Middle East to push for a Gaza deal which they say could help avert a wider regional conflagration.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is headed back to the region this weekend in a bid to help seal a deal.
In Israel, Blinken will seek to “conclude the agreement for a ceasefire and release of hostages and detainees,” the State Department said.
Egyptian, Qatari, and U.S. mediators are working to finalise details of a framework agreement initially outlined by Biden in May. He said Israel had proposed it.
In a joint statement after two days of talks in Qatar, the mediators said they presented both sides with a proposal that “bridges remaining gaps.”
Talks aiming to secure a deal are to resume in Cairo “before the end of next week,” they said.
Previous optimism during months of on-off truce talks has proven unfounded.
But the stakes have risen significantly since Israel’s assassinations in late July of Fuad Shukr, a top operations chief of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, and Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh.
Their deaths led to vows of vengeance from Hezbollah, Iran, and other Tehran-aligned groups in the region.
Hamas did not attend the Doha talks. An official of the Palestinian movement, Osama Hamdan, told AFP the group would join if the meeting set a timetable for implementing what Hamas had already agreed to.
On Friday, officials told AFP that Hamas will not accept “new conditions” from Israel.
A prospective cessation of hostilities has centered around a phased deal beginning with an initial truce.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Tuesday detailed its conditions for a truce, including “a veto on certain prisoners” being released from its jails.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, and Italy urged all parties to “engage positively and flexibly” in the negotiations.
“We underline the importance of avoiding any escalatory action in the region which would undermine the prospect for peace,” they added.
There is too much at stake.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.