When President-elect Donald J. Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday to press him for a Gaza ceasefire deal, he had someone on speaker: Brett H. McGurk, president. Longtime Biden Middle East negotiator.
Mr. McGurk was in Doha, Qatar, to lead the latest round of ceasefire negotiations.
It was a striking example of cooperation between two men representing bitter political rivals. Rarely, if ever, have teams of current and new presidents from different parties worked together at such an important moment, with the fate of American lives and the future of a devastating war at stake.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden have publicly claimed credit for the breakthrough.
“This EPIC ceasefire agreement could only have happened following our historic victory in November,” Mr. Trump wrote on his social media site before the agreement was even officially announced in the Middle East.
At the White House, Mr. Biden told reporters that his administration had worked tirelessly for months to convince both sides to end the fighting. He called it “one of the most difficult negotiations I have ever experienced” and praised “an extraordinary team of American diplomats who worked non-stop for months to make this happen.”
As he left the room, a reporter asked Mr. Biden, “Who gets the credit for this, Mr. President, you or Trump?” Mr. Biden stopped, turned and smiled.
“Is this a joke?” he asked.
But despite tensions between the current president and the next, their representatives in the Middle East have described a cooperative working relationship in the weeks since Election Day.
“Brett is in the lead,” Mr. Witkoff said last week at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s club in Florida, describing the working relationship. That description was deemed accurate by both camps, although it did not match what Mr. Trump had said moments earlier in one of several statements describing his negotiators as critical players.
In fact, Mr. Trump’s threat that “all hell” would break loose if no deal was reached before his inauguration on Monday may have helped motivate Hamas leaders to make final decisions. But people close to the negotiations said Wednesday’s announcement of a deal to temporarily end hostilities in Gaza was the result of months of work by Mr. McGurk in the Middle East, capped by several weeks of carefully Mr. Witkoff’s contact details.
Mr. Witkoff, 67, a blunt real estate investor from the Bronx, largely moved to Qatar for the negotiations, knowing that whatever Mr. McGurk negotiated, he would have to execute. In fact, the 33 hostages who will be released under the ceasefire agreement may not regain their freedom until Inauguration Day or after. The ceasefire will expire six weeks later unless phase 2 of the agreement comes into effect.
By design, the goal was to send a unified message that the fighting must stop and the hostages held by Hamas must be released. A person close to the negotiations, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the discussions, said Mr. McGurk was more involved in working out the details of the deal, while the Mr. Witkoff’s role was to make it clear that Mr. Trump wanted a deal at the time of his inauguration.
The president-elect also set some early parameters in his relationship with Mr Netanyahu – who, for all his support for Mr Trump in the election, was seen by the Trump camp as dragging his feet on a deal. Mr. Witkoff traveled to Israel from Doha on Saturday – despite the Sabbath – to underline the message that Mr. Netanyahu had to get on board.
Mr. Witkoff’s work, including meeting with Mr. Netanyahu, helped Mr. McGurk and the Biden administration put pressure on both sides during the negotiations, according to the person familiar with the talks.
In a press release issued Wednesday afternoon after the ceasefire agreement was announced, Mr. Netanyahu congratulated Mr. Trump, thanking him for “his assistance in advancing the release of the hostages and for helped Israel end the suffering of dozens of hostages. hostages and their families.
A mention of Mr Biden appeared only in the final line of the statement, saying the prime minister had “also thanked him for his help in promoting the hostage deal”.
In the days immediately after Mr. Trump won a second term, it was not at all clear that the Trump and Biden teams could cooperate. The relationship was further burdened by the Trump team’s determination to clean out career White House staff and the Biden team’s last-minute orders to mentor the new administration.
In his remarks on Wednesday, Mr. Biden acknowledged a certain level of cooperation and respect between their aides.
“This agreement was developed and negotiated under my administration, but its terms will be implemented substantially by the next administration,” Mr. Biden told reporters. “Over the past few days, we have spoken as one team.”
But he did not give Mr. Trump more credit for his contribution to that effort. For his part, the president-elect said he was “delighted” that the American hostages were freed, but he did not mention Mr. Biden or the work of the current administration.
“We have accomplished so much without even being in the White House,” Mr. Trump wrote. “Imagine all the wonderful things that will happen when I return. »
Mr. McGurk and Mr. Witkoff began meeting over the ceasefire agreement shortly after Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump spoke for two hours in the Oval Office, two days after the election victory from Mr. Trump, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.
Mr. McGurk regularly briefed Mr. Witkoff on the progress of the Middle East negotiations, the source said, and invited Mr. Witkoff to join him in Doha for the final round of negotiations last week, according to the source. was an “incredibly effective” process.
Biden administration officials have said they believe momentum for a deal began when Mr. Biden helped broker a separate deal to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. That isolated Hamas and helped persuade the group that a ceasefire was in its interests, according to Biden officials.
But a person close to the negotiations acknowledged that the cooperation between Mr. McGurk and Mr. Witkoff was proof of what can be accomplished when political differences are put aside — if only temporarily.
