In this exclusive Zeteo Town Hall Q&A, Mehdi is joined by a former Israeli Hamas negotiator, Gershon Baskin, to discuss the latest escalations in Israel’s war in Gaza, including the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Baskin is one of the most recognizable names in the Middle East Peace process and one of few Israelis, if not the only one, who has had consistent direct, and indirect, contact with Hamas for 17 years.
Watch the full discussion - including audience questions - above!
Between political assassinations in Iran and Lebanon, the future of a two-state solution changing, and the road ahead for Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, Baskin is more equipped than most people to connect the dots.
“The timing was, I think, more directed to send a message from the Israeli government to Iran, rather than a message to Hamas,” Baskin told Mehdi on the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s political bureau, “I think it makes us less secure. I think it guarantees us escalation at a time when there were negotiations for a ceasefire. It has frozen those negotiations.”
“He [Benjamin Netanyahu] does want the Israeli hostages home, but he's not willing to make a deal that will bring them home,” Baskin adds, but argues that both sides share the blame for delaying a possible ceasefire.
Watch the full Town Hall to hear why Baskin believes the two-state solution is back, who he thinks could be the leader of a future Palestinian state, and the most important first step for “making Palestine real for Palestinians.”
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“It's About Revenge”: Former Israeli Hamas Negotiator on War in Gaza