Netanyahu, US administration delayed deal

AlArabiya English

Former Israeli hostage and peace negotiator Gershon Baskin blames Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the US administration for the continuation of the war.   #Gaza #US

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00:00OK, so this phased approach that has been the, you know, the Biden administration's

00:05preferred approach, you see that carrying on uninterrupted, do you?

00:09And not least because you mentioned that both the outgoing and the incoming administrations

00:14were working and were very much present at those negotiations.

00:18You don't see that being interrupted?

00:19Well, the problem with an extended deal like this that's going to take two or three months

00:23to finish is that it could break down at any time.

00:26Any kind of catastrophe could happen.

00:28Israeli soldiers could encounter Hamas fighters or the other way around and people get killed

00:32and then the warfare renews again and the deal is off.

00:35This is why the major problem with this deal is that in phase one, they're only releasing

00:3933 of the 98 hostages, leaving 65 behind.

00:45And the war is going to go on, presumably without really fighting, but the war is not

00:50going to be officially over for at least two months.

00:53This all could have been done in a three week period and it's a pity that it hasn't

00:56been done.

00:57I put direct responsibility not only on Prime Minister Netanyahu, but also on the American

01:01administration.

01:03The American administration negotiators who put forth this phased plan have stuck to it

01:07for months, even when they knew back in September that Hamas was ready to do a deal in three

01:12weeks that would end the war to an Israeli withdrawal of all hostages and Palestinian

01:17prisoners.

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