Speaker 1: We're coming on the air right now with breaking news
Speaker 1: from the Middle East. Hamas has just released thirteen Israeli hostages,
Speaker 1: including two Israeli Americans.
Speaker 2: They have agreed to a two day extension. This is
Speaker 2: coming from the Katari Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Speaker 3: I'm your host Roslin Matheson today on the Big Take,
Speaker 3: Bloomberg's Israel Bureau chief Ethan Bronner and journalist Vadwa Hodali
Speaker 3: join me for an update on the Israel Hamas war,
Speaker 3: including the temporary truce, the release of hostages and prisoners,
Speaker 3: and what the international community thinks about the conflict. Almost
Speaker 3: two months on. Ethan and Fadwah, thank you for joining
Speaker 3: me for this conversation. It comes almost eight weeks into
Speaker 3: the war between Israel and Hamason, of course, with a
Speaker 3: short lived truce coming into effect. Ethan, could you just
Speaker 3: bring our listeners up to day in terms of what's
Speaker 3: been happening in the past few days.
Speaker 4: The Americans, the Egyptians, and the Kantries organized a truce
Speaker 4: between Israel and Hamas last week, which originally was to
Speaker 4: last for four days, and there was to be an
Speaker 4: exchange of hostages that had been taken by Hamas into
Speaker 4: Gaza for Palestinian prisoners that Israel holds. In all cases,
Speaker 4: these are women, children, and elderly people. There were no
Speaker 4: men involved in this deal, and part of the deal
Speaker 4: also included a huge increase in the number of aid
Speaker 4: trucks coming in to Gaza, where people are beginning to
Speaker 4: suffer from hunger and disease after, as you said, nearly
Speaker 4: eight weeks of war.
Speaker 3: It was obviously a very really delicate deal to get done,
Speaker 3: as you say, involving mediation between Katar officials from the
Speaker 3: US Egypt essentially passing notes between Hamas and Israel in
Speaker 3: very circumstances. Was it surprising to you, Ethan that the
Speaker 3: truce actually has had throughout It does seem like it's
Speaker 3: been largely respected.
Speaker 1: There was many, many reasons to imagine that it would
Speaker 1: fall apart.
Speaker 4: But I guess what's driving it is that both sides
Speaker 4: are desperate for a deal, as are the sponsors.
Speaker 2: So Israel is desperate for.
Speaker 4: A deal because it really wants to bring back its hostages,
Speaker 4: at least as many as it can. There has developed
Speaker 4: in Israel an exceptional campaign of pressure to put the
Speaker 4: hostages at the front of the agenda. Ahead of victory,
Speaker 4: and also to assert that it doesn't make victory difficult
Speaker 4: or harder.
Speaker 2: It's both things are equally important.
Speaker 4: On Hamasa's side, the desire for some kind of a
Speaker 4: pause that would allow it to reorganize its troops and
Speaker 4: also bring in some supplies for itself as well as.
Speaker 2: For the people of Gaza also is huge.
Speaker 4: And for the Americans, who are the major sponsor of
Speaker 4: Israel internationally, there was a sense that Israel was going
Speaker 4: about this war in a way that was art sensitive
Speaker 4: to the needs of civilians, that it was way too
Speaker 4: many people, ordinary people being killed, and by creating the
Speaker 4: conditions for this truce, there would be time to rethink
Speaker 4: its battle plan going forward.
Speaker 2: So there was a lot of desire on all sides
Speaker 2: for it.
Speaker 3: Outside Gaza Fadua, we did see some skirmishes continuing. We
Speaker 3: know that the Voice of Palestine radio station reported that
Speaker 3: Palestinians were killed in a missile attack by Israeli forces
Speaker 3: on the occupied West Bank. You know, there's also reports
Speaker 3: that Israeli missiles we're hitting targets inside Syria. Can you
Speaker 3: talk a little bit about what's been going on outside
Speaker 3: Gaza throughout this Ceaspi outside Gaza.
Speaker 5: West Bank has been living allsort theence moments since the
Speaker 5: aggression on Gaza continue was raised by the Israeli different forces.
Speaker 5: The West Bank has been on a lockdown since Ako
Speaker 5: over seventh. This has put a lot of strain on
Speaker 5: the Palestinian movement, Palestinian economy on their daily basis. The
Speaker 5: West Bank since October seventh have seen an increased number
Speaker 5: of Palestinians being killed. We're talking about close to three
Speaker 5: hundred people that have been killed since October seventh. That
Speaker 5: puts a lot of pressure on the Palestinian authority in
Speaker 5: regards to what's going on on continuous raid. They're not
Speaker 5: able to be in areas where the IDEF is conducting
Speaker 5: those raids. Schools have been put onto a course of
Speaker 5: going into a zoom and on a lot of places,
Speaker 5: especially on the north area of the West Bank like Ganine, Tulkaram, Nebulus,
Speaker 5: and that's where most of the IDEA of operations are concentrated.
Speaker 3: And of course the IDF is the Israeli defense forced work.
Speaker 3: Has the pause in fighting did that allow us to
Speaker 3: assess any more clearly the damage of the impact inside
Speaker 3: Gaza itself of the war. Has it enabled any clearer
Speaker 3: assessments of what's been the impact inside Gaza so far
Speaker 3: of this conflict.
Speaker 5: I think the people in Gaza got a time to breathe,
Speaker 5: and the assessment is huge. The damage is huge. The
Speaker 5: amount of destruction that took place there is huge. So
Speaker 5: these days of ceasefire gave people time to go check
Speaker 5: their homes they were destroyed, restock on goods. The humanitarian
Speaker 5: situation is devastating. Most of the hospitals are not working,
Speaker 5: a couple of hospitals only in the south, two hospitals
Speaker 5: in the north are only functioning with severe severe damage
Speaker 5: to the infrastructure, and the humanitarian aid is not enough
Speaker 5: to reach into the Gaza strip. The UN has been
Speaker 5: working constantly to kind provide the facilitation or humanitarian aid
Speaker 5: to go into most of the Gaza strip, but as
Speaker 5: we know that reaching the north is a bit difficult
Speaker 5: and this need requires coordination by the Israeli defense forces
Speaker 5: and the humanitarian aid agencies in there.
Speaker 3: It was interesting just in the immediate aftermath of the
Speaker 3: truth beginning, I remember there were reports that people in
Speaker 3: Gaza were trying to move back to the north from
Speaker 3: the south to possibly check on their homes, to check
Speaker 3: on their loved ones, and we're being very much blocked
Speaker 3: in that effort and told to stay in the south.
Speaker 3: But Ethan, I was interested in something you were talking about,
Speaker 3: which is the motivation on both sides to have this CESPI,
Speaker 3: this pause in the fighting, and why it was to
Speaker 3: the benefit of both Israel but also Hamas. I'm curious
Speaker 3: has this break though, hardened any of the pressure on
Speaker 3: the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin net and Yahu from other nations,
Speaker 3: for example, to now stop the war entirely.
Speaker 1: There is an enormous amount of international pressure on Israel.
Speaker 1: The view from abroad is that this is an inexcusable
Speaker 1: number of civilian casualties and deaths, that Israel's rule over
Speaker 1: Gaza in the past has created the conditions for it
Speaker 1: ought to be handling the situation far differently.
Speaker 2: At the same time, there is support.
Speaker 4: By the United States for the goal that Israel has set,
Speaker 4: which is to dismantle Hamas, and it must be said
Speaker 4: that there appears to be support for that goal in
Speaker 4: some European capitals and indeed in the Arab golf as well.
Speaker 4: I think the problem is, you know at what costs
Speaker 4: and how quickly can they do it. The other thing
Speaker 4: is it's a rather abstract goal because Hamas is something
Speaker 4: that was born from within the Palestinian people. It is
Speaker 4: a religious, political, social cultural movement. The idea of actually
Speaker 4: stripping it from the people seems, you know, an ambition
Speaker 4: that may not be meetable. So there's a lot of
Speaker 4: pressure to answer your question, on the Prime Minister of
Speaker 4: Israel and on the Israeli government, But it must be said,
Speaker 4: there is a huge amount of pressure inside Israel to
Speaker 4: complete the task.
Speaker 2: As it has been laid out.
Speaker 4: There is a surprising amount of unity in this country
Speaker 4: to do what is possible to destroy Hamas. And that's
Speaker 4: partly because the events of October seventh were so traumatic
Speaker 4: for this country.
Speaker 3: And it's interesting to hear you talking Ethan about the
Speaker 3: question of domestic unity political unity, and we want to
Speaker 3: talk about that in a bit also. But I want
Speaker 3: to pick up a point that you made about Hamas
Speaker 3: being sort of really part of the fabric for many people,
Speaker 3: Palestinian people, in that question of the goal of eradicating
Speaker 3: Hamas being the ad goal in this conflict. For Israel,
Speaker 3: we know that they've lost a bunch of senior commanders,
Speaker 3: We know that the air strikes from Israel have been
Speaker 3: very widespread and highly damaging. Is there a sense that
Speaker 3: Hamas has had a chance to regreep in.
Speaker 2: All of this?
Speaker 1: That is absolutely the sense that Israeli have, that the
Speaker 1: military has. There's concern, of course that Hamas it's now based,
Speaker 1: one assumes in the tunnels of the southern part of
Speaker 1: the Gaza strip, and they may be able to in
Speaker 1: fact run around, escape, bring in some kind of reinforcements
Speaker 1: and so forth.
Speaker 2: So, yes, the whole idea.
Speaker 4: Was that you have to put enormous pressure on them
Speaker 4: and only then will they yield in any way. So
Speaker 4: you had these two competing goals for the war, which
Speaker 4: was to put pressure on Hamas and destroy it and
Speaker 4: bring back the hostages. They really are not easy to
Speaker 4: reconcile the two because.
Speaker 2: One kind of obviates the other.
Speaker 4: But the way the Israelis have handled it is to say, well, actually,
Speaker 4: the best thing we can do is put enormous pressure
Speaker 4: on the Hamas leadership to force them to cut a
Speaker 4: deal on hostages. I'm not sure that's what happened, but
Speaker 4: that's the narrative that's been presented here. And so we
Speaker 4: have had this series of hostages getting out. I mean,
Speaker 4: it also must be said, I think that from Hamas's
Speaker 4: point of view, to beholding babies, children and the elderly
Speaker 4: ladies has not been particularly a good look, and so
Speaker 4: I think they're not that upset about letting some of.
Speaker 2: Them go.
Speaker 3: After the break. How did the world respond to the
Speaker 3: temporary truth? We were talking initially about the cespar itself
Speaker 3: between Israel and har mass the exchanges of prisoners, and
Speaker 3: what's been the impact of that so far. Let's talk
Speaker 3: a little bit about some of the other players in
Speaker 3: all of this, because Fadwah the truce was broken by Qatar,
Speaker 3: Egypt and officials in the US. What kind of role,
Speaker 3: particularly did Katar play in all of this, and what
Speaker 3: does that tell you about sort of the growing place
Speaker 3: of Qatar in the region.
Speaker 5: As we know, Qatar has been funding the Gaza Strip
Speaker 5: since the division of the Palestinians the year cool that
Speaker 5: Hamas has imposed on the Gaza Strip in two thousand
Speaker 5: and seven. Since then, we've seen a growing interest from
Speaker 5: the Katari to invest into Gaza and also because of
Speaker 5: the relationship that they hold with the Hamas leadership. Their
Speaker 5: Hamas leadership is stationed in Qatar, so that puts them
Speaker 5: in a closer relationship. Katar has been funding the Gaza Strip,
Speaker 5: paying for needy family infrastructure for years, and they're been
Speaker 5: brokering a couple of the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.
Speaker 5: So it played really a major role into that in
Speaker 5: regards to the Egyptians. Also, the Egyptians have always all
Speaker 5: along played a very intensive role in regards to that.
Speaker 5: Hamas has kept a really good relationship with the Katari
Speaker 5: kept a really good relationship with the Egyptians, and also
Speaker 5: need to take into consideration that Egypt does not want
Speaker 5: any unrest into its borders. Also, we need to take
Speaker 5: into consideration that the Palestinian authority is in a very
Speaker 5: close contact with the Egyptians and they want to make
Speaker 5: sure that none of the Palestinians that live in in Gaza,
Speaker 5: especially in this war, since there were a lot of
Speaker 5: talks about people being displaced and moved to Egypt, they
Speaker 5: wanted to make sure that the Egyptians are on the
Speaker 5: same line as all the Arab countries supporting the Palestinian issue,
Speaker 5: none of those people to be displaced or be taken
Speaker 5: out of Gaza. They wanted to make sure none of
Speaker 5: these people are being transferred and sent across the border
Speaker 5: from Raffa. And of course Egypt has been playing a
Speaker 5: major role in facilitating the aid going into Gaza, so
Speaker 5: they had to maintain a really good relationship with Hamas
Speaker 5: in regards to that.
Speaker 3: And of course, as you say, Egypt's been very clear
Speaker 3: throughout that it doesn't want an exodus of people out
Speaker 3: of Gaza through that Rafa crossing, and noting, of course
Speaker 3: Egypt has an election coming up also in a matter
Speaker 3: of weeks. But what's been the overall reaction by Arab
Speaker 3: states to the prospect of the war resuming again. Ethan
Speaker 3: was making clear that as far as Israel's concerned, there's
Speaker 3: a strong desire to see this war through no matter
Speaker 3: what in terms of temporary truces and whatnot. How are
Speaker 3: Arab states responding to that?
Speaker 5: Well, the Arab states are clear and actually joining forces
Speaker 5: and trying to get a complete halt of the war
Speaker 5: and get a completely permanent cease fire. There is an opportunity,
Speaker 5: a seized opportunity that they believe that this is the
Speaker 5: time to look into the Palestinian Israeli conflict and finally
Speaker 5: solve it once and for all, and after the October
Speaker 5: seventh there needs to be a deeper look into the
Speaker 5: Palestinian cause because this affects also the other Arab countries
Speaker 5: like Jordan, Syria, Lebanon. So they joined forces and on
Speaker 5: a daily basis, there are talks efforts to open up
Speaker 5: a path where negotiations based on sexty seven borders resume
Speaker 5: and ending the Israeli Palestinian conflict because this also brings
Speaker 5: stability to the whole Middle East region, Ethan.
Speaker 3: One other delicate relationship in this obviously is also involving Iran,
Speaker 3: which backs not only Hamas but also the Lebanon based
Speaker 3: Hezbollah and Houthi rebels based in Yemen who've been keeping
Speaker 3: up some of their attacks in the region throughout the
Speaker 3: TRUS farring missiles and so on, and that's risking during
Speaker 3: in US forces in the region. Ethan. Can you talk
Speaker 3: a little bit about how this is being seen at
Speaker 3: the moment by Iran. It does seem as though Hesbela
Speaker 3: has been staying largely quiet in attacking Israel throughout this process.
Speaker 3: Is Iran keen to also see tensions de escalate somewhat.
Speaker 4: I don't think we have real transparency into the thinking
Speaker 4: at the highest levels of Iran. There's no doubt that
Speaker 4: Iran can cos his Belah and Hamas as useful tools
Speaker 4: to go after Israel. There is a long standing and
Speaker 4: deep shadow war between Iran and Israel. There's a deep
Speaker 4: ideological divide over it and Iran the best of our understanding,
Speaker 4: funds by about a billion dollars a year and Hamas
Speaker 4: by about one hundred million dollars a year. Those missiles
Speaker 4: that are able to be GPS directed to Tel Aviv
Speaker 4: from southern Lebanon and from Gaza are paid for by Iran.
Speaker 2: So there's no doubt.
Speaker 4: That there is a huge focus on Israel from Iran.
Speaker 4: Now at this particular moment, it doesn't seem that they
Speaker 4: are urging his Balla to get involved in a big way.
Speaker 4: It's also possible that his Bela is not willing to
Speaker 4: get involved in a big way. It's hard for us
Speaker 4: to know what that conversation is like. The Israelis have
Speaker 4: moved up a large part of their air force to
Speaker 4: the north and have said to his Belah, if you
Speaker 4: do start to raining down thousands of missiles on Israel,
Speaker 4: we will destroy Beirut and there are, of course two
Speaker 4: US led carrier groups in the Mediterranean to reinforce that message.
Speaker 2: So I think that the message has been received.
Speaker 4: I don't know that that tells us anything about what
Speaker 4: ultimate intentions are. I think that Israel is very nervous
Speaker 4: about a group closing in on it from all sides Syria, Lebanon,
Speaker 4: West Bank and Gaza, and the sense that it is
Speaker 4: ran behind most of those movements.
Speaker 2: So I don't think we've seen the end of the situation.
Speaker 3: Ron coming up. What can we expect next in the conflict?
Speaker 3: We were talking earlier about the truth itself and the
Speaker 3: determination of Israel to continue with the war either way,
Speaker 3: given its skull is to eradicate Hamas, and it says
Speaker 3: its goal is not yet achieved ethan, What does does
Speaker 3: it mean that the ceasepy has been extended? What are
Speaker 3: the ramifications of that extension?
Speaker 4: Well baked into the original deal was that after the
Speaker 4: four day ceasefire there was a possibility of another day
Speaker 4: for h ten hostages released again women, children and elderly.
Speaker 2: And so that has now happened.
Speaker 4: They've been able to extend it by this period in
Speaker 4: exchange for these hostages. What does it mean in theory,
Speaker 4: it means that there's a greater humanitarian aid coming into Gaza,
Speaker 4: that the likelihood of severe disease and starvation is declined.
Speaker 4: And then the question is what does it mean for
Speaker 4: Israel's assertion that is going to continue to come after
Speaker 4: Hamas in the same way it did before. All along,
Speaker 4: some military planners have said, if you allow a long
Speaker 4: term truce, long term meeting some days or weeks, then
Speaker 4: the ability.
Speaker 2: Of the military to kind of pick up where it
Speaker 2: left off is reduced.
Speaker 4: The desire of the nation to move forward could be reduced,
Speaker 4: and this poses a threat to your ongoing task. Now
Speaker 4: we'll see whether the Israelis in fact are able to
Speaker 4: pick up where they left off. There's the other question
Speaker 4: of you know, whether abroad the pressure will grow. Inside
Speaker 4: the United States, there is concern that that aid to
Speaker 4: Israel military aid ought to be conditioned on certain kinds
Speaker 4: of behavior.
Speaker 2: This is something that has arisen lately.
Speaker 4: So all of these things are sort of in play
Speaker 4: as the extension goes forward.
Speaker 3: And Fadua with the decision to extend this SPA. You
Speaker 3: talked earlier in the conversation about the breathing space for
Speaker 3: the people of Gaza obviously either way that the humanitarian
Speaker 3: situation there remains pretty dire.
Speaker 5: Yes, it is. The humanitarian situation is really devastating. We
Speaker 5: have over one point seven million people displaced, people without homes,
Speaker 5: living intents, Families have been displaced from each other. We
Speaker 5: are in the wintertime, is going to put a much
Speaker 5: more strain onto the people. They're tired of the situation.
Speaker 5: They want to have some time to go back relocate
Speaker 5: to their homes. We've seen footage of people going back
Speaker 5: for the last three or four days, living in their
Speaker 5: destroyed home, taking shelter in there, trying to pick up
Speaker 5: their belongings. So before the sea is fire, hets they
Speaker 5: can go back and hit down South and the shelter places,
Speaker 5: whether it's in the schools, whether it's in homes of families,
Speaker 5: whether it's most of them in fens. You see people
Speaker 5: living in their cars. This is devastating. You'll see lines
Speaker 5: and lines of people standing to refill water, refill gas,
Speaker 5: and restock their food and they don't know if this
Speaker 5: is going to continue. If the seas fire were last.
Speaker 3: Ethan. It was also interesting hearing you talk earlier about
Speaker 3: the internal dynamic inside Israel that there are a lot
Speaker 3: of questions over Netnyahu initially and his long term future
Speaker 3: after the surprise attack Bajamas inside Israel or October seven,
Speaker 3: but it sounds as though there is a sense of
Speaker 3: unity still inside Israel, both politically and amongst the public.
Speaker 4: Look there is definitely unity to the plan to take
Speaker 4: a very tough response line to what happened on the
Speaker 4: seventh of October and to send a message both to
Speaker 4: Hamas and Rizbolah to his sponsors in Iran that this
Speaker 4: is a country that is going to stand together militarily
Speaker 4: and from a security perspective as long as necessary.
Speaker 2: That is true, that.
Speaker 4: Does not mean that people are embracing Benjamin tanya Who's
Speaker 4: future as Prime minister. There was until the seventh of October,
Speaker 4: nine months of street weekly demonstrations calling for his removal
Speaker 4: because of issues of populist policies having to do with
Speaker 4: this Supreme Court and also a cases against him of
Speaker 4: fraud and bribery. There was some problem to begin with
Speaker 4: once this happened. After all, Natanyau had put himself forward
Speaker 4: as mister Security, and on the day of the seventh
Speaker 4: of October there was no sign of any security that
Speaker 4: was a clearly enormous failure, and the buck does stop
Speaker 4: with him. So I would say that when this war ends,
Speaker 4: it's very unlikely that he will be able to be
Speaker 4: prime minister for much longer. All the polls show many gods,
Speaker 4: the more centrist, a member of his war cabinet, an
Speaker 4: opposition leader as a way out ahead to become the
Speaker 4: next prime minister. That said, I think we have to
Speaker 4: remember that what happened on October seventh actually did not
Speaker 4: drive the country to the center or the left.
Speaker 2: It drove it to the right. To some extent.
Speaker 4: Abroad, people look at what happened on October seventh and say, well,
Speaker 4: desperate people do desperate things. Now it's time for you
Speaker 4: to finally deal with your Polace than an issue inside Israel,
Speaker 4: the view of what happened was, listen, we are dealing
Speaker 4: with an inherently violent group that wants to kill us
Speaker 4: no matter what happens, and therefore we need to be
Speaker 4: more protective, not less.
Speaker 2: We need to put our army.
Speaker 4: In a stronger position, not weaker, and we are not
Speaker 4: in any way interested in a two state solution. That is,
Speaker 4: I would say the majority view in this country, not
Speaker 4: the overwhelming, but the majority view. So the idea that
Speaker 4: there'll be a sort of peaceful solution when this is
Speaker 4: all over is hard to see at this stage in
Speaker 4: this country.
Speaker 3: It's interesting you talk about that contrast domestically and internationally,
Speaker 3: and we are seeing increasing countries around the world with
Speaker 3: their concern around the situation inside Garza and calling for
Speaker 3: a more prolonged cease fire to take effect. But Ethan,
Speaker 3: you say, when the war is over and the idea
Speaker 3: of what happens next, are we still talking months possibly
Speaker 3: years for this war itself Israel to rich its goal
Speaker 3: on Hamas, what's the timeline on that, and then what
Speaker 3: comes after?
Speaker 2: I don't think it's years.
Speaker 4: Weeks or months seem to make the most sense at
Speaker 4: this stage, just because the pressure to stop the deaths
Speaker 4: of innocence is going to grow, and also the question
Speaker 4: of as you say, what next will start to impose itself.
Speaker 2: So what next.
Speaker 4: Let's say the war goes for two or three more months,
Speaker 4: So much depends on whether they have successfully killed a
Speaker 4: number of top people in Hamas, whether they in the
Speaker 4: second phase of the war are able to actually uproot
Speaker 4: the infrastructure. At the same time, you have two million
Speaker 4: people crowded above ground there.
Speaker 2: It's hard to imagine how that can happen.
Speaker 4: One of the reasons that there's been all this focus
Speaker 4: on a ceasefires because the Americans have been saying to
Speaker 4: the Israelis, you must have a plan that makes sense
Speaker 4: going forward.
Speaker 2: You can't just.
Speaker 4: Say we're going to destroy them. You need to explain
Speaker 4: to us how you're going to do it. So I
Speaker 4: don't know that they've come up with a very particularly
Speaker 4: appropriate plan, but we'll have to see what happens next.
Speaker 2: Domestically, politically, I think that.
Speaker 4: All the leaders of everyone involved is likely to change
Speaker 4: in the coming year. It's not clear to me, as
Speaker 4: I said, the Prime Minister in Natanya, how will be
Speaker 4: in power. It's not clear to me that Mahmura Bash
Speaker 4: will for very much longer be the president of the
Speaker 4: Palestinian Authority. It's not clear to me that Yachi sin
Speaker 4: War will be able to be the leader of.
Speaker 2: Hamas in Gaza.
Speaker 4: And it's not clear that President Biden will be the
Speaker 4: president in the year.
Speaker 3: Fardware from Jerusalem also, I'm curious your perspective on what next,
Speaker 3: not just for Israel, but also for Gaza and for
Speaker 3: the West Bank. Ethan mentioned Abas, the head of the
Speaker 3: Palestinian Authority, whose name has been thrown about a bit
Speaker 3: as a solution, But there are so many ideas being
Speaker 3: bandied about and no one seems to have a real
Speaker 3: solution to what is a very deeply protracted, long running
Speaker 3: and challenging problem. But what do you see as the
Speaker 3: things to watch for next?
Speaker 5: Well, I think what's next and what the Palestinian Authority
Speaker 5: is trying to do is to make sure that they
Speaker 5: are the ones who take control of the Gaza after
Speaker 5: the war is over, because actually they have been in
Speaker 5: Gaza even when Hamas is running the Gaza strip. The
Speaker 5: PA has been paying a lot of money since the
Speaker 5: Hamas takeover to Gaza. They've been paying salaries for their
Speaker 5: several servants, they've been paying for water, they've been paying
Speaker 5: for electricity. So the PA already existed, but you can
Speaker 5: maybe call it like a shadow government that it's been
Speaker 5: paying for expenses that actually Hamas couldn't pay. Then they
Speaker 5: believe that you cannot leave your people, you cannot differentiate
Speaker 5: between Gaza and the West Bank. They're all one entity
Speaker 5: and one people, and they trying to make sure with
Speaker 5: all their diplomatic efforts that they're being exerted since the
Speaker 5: war started. That the PA is the only entity and
Speaker 5: it's the only entity that recognized by the international community.
Speaker 5: The you owned resolutions is the one that needs to
Speaker 5: run gazas in regards to that. So this is where
Speaker 5: the efforts also not only of the Palestinian authority, but
Speaker 5: European countries. The Americans have stated their position in regards
Speaker 5: to that, the Arab countries. So this is where the
Speaker 5: effort is being exerted. Is forty PA to go back
Speaker 5: and run Gaza.
Speaker 3: Ethan in Fatworth. Thank you very much for your time today.
Speaker 3: Thank you Rod, Thank you thanks for listening to us
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