What would Hamas want out of a peace deal?

Hamas wants to see an end to attacks on Gaza, and to see the territory opened up to the world, with restrictions at its border crossings eased, an end to the maritime blockade, and the reduction of the buffer zone around Gaza, which has seen one third of its agricultural land placed out of the reach of Gazan citizens.

"Will Hamas insist on every last one of those things? No," Blecher said. "What they want to see is the opening up of Gaza in a broad sense, so if they can come up with a package of measures that includes some of those things, but not all, I think they would live with that."

But what they probably wouldn't be happy with would be the promise of a few tentative moves, with the promise of bigger concessions at a later date.

"For the first 15 or so years of the peace process, the idea was that it was done step-by-step, incrementally, building trust as it went along, but that failed, and from Hamas' perspective, if they agree to a limited 'Stage One' deal, it's not clear they'll ever get to 'stage two,' so from their point of view, they want it all tied up in a bigger package," Blecher said.