Israeli security cabinet backs the Gaza ceasefire deal

CGTN Europe

CGTN Europe speaks to Daniel Levy, President of the U.S./Middle East Project and former senior advisor to the Israeli government.

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00:00Let's talk now to Daniel Levy, the former advisor to the Israeli government.

00:04He's now president of the Independent Policy Institute, the U.S. Middle East Project.

00:09Daniel, welcome, good to see you.

00:11If this peace agreement does come into force, your thoughts first on

00:16getting here and the significance of these crowded hours?

00:23Jamie, if I may, let's not call it a peace agreement.

00:27It's a ceasefire deal.

00:28It's very much not a peace agreement.

00:30This is perhaps a vista towards ending this horrendously bloody last 15 months

00:39of particular conflict in Gaza.

00:41But it's very important that you draw attention to this crowded next few hours and days.

00:47Sunday still seems an awfully long way away, doesn't it?

00:51So where we are, it's now become transparent, something that many of us

00:56had seen and called out and analyzed for many, many months,

01:02which is that the obstacle to this deal was the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu,

01:08and his calculations, which were narrow domestic political.

01:14He's governing coalition, which we see straining now against this backdrop.

01:20And there were other reasons Netanyahu wanted to continue with this.

01:23He has tried to reinvent himself as a wartime leader.

01:27He has ideological goals when it comes to Gaza.

01:29We were told by the Biden administration and by Secretary Blinken and others

01:35that the one obstacle to a deal with Hamas, you know, sometimes diplomacy requires

01:41constructive ambiguity when it goes into outright deceit and falsehoods.

01:47And those falsehoods undermine diplomacy.

01:50Something is wrong, and unfortunately, something was terribly wrong

01:53with the Biden administration's handling of this.

01:55That's why the same deal that was available in May is now only happening as a result of,

02:02I would call it, Jamie, the Trump trepidation factor.

02:06It's not that Trump has come in and read the riot act to Netanyahu,

02:09but Netanyahu sees someone who may act like the leader of a superpower

02:14rather than someone he can wrap around his finger, which was the Biden administration.

02:17Netanyahu doesn't want to be here.

02:19And therefore, the second crucial thing to say at this point

02:22is that Netanyahu will look for ways of getting out of this

02:26because that aligns with his domestic political survival.

02:29These are going to be a tense next, not only two days in the hours,

02:33and we see the destruction.

02:35We've seen 100 plus Palestinians.

02:37Your correspondent Rami, who was talking about the situation there,

02:40killed since the announcement.

02:43One can expect that to continue.

02:46One can expect, even if we begin implementation,

02:49which I think is now likely to happen,

02:51that the provocations will be relentless.

02:54This is going to be very fragile indeed.

02:58That sounds like a rather gloomy prognosis.

03:01What do then the next few months look like in Gaza?

03:11I wish I could say there's a half full cup.

03:15There isn't.

03:16But there is the following.

03:19There is the fact that if this is implemented,

03:24for at least a period of implementation,

03:27Palestinians in Gaza will no longer face daily mass civilian killings

03:34at the hands of these IDF bombers.

03:36You will see the Israelis held in Gaza, the hostages,

03:41some, many of them returning home alive,

03:44finally some respite for those families.

03:47You also see Palestinians, often held for decades,

03:49often held in detention without trial in Israeli prisons,

03:52being released.

03:54And you'll hopefully see,

03:55and this is some of the challenges ahead in the implementation,

04:00you will hopefully see those other aspects,

04:02Palestinians being able to return,

04:04I would say to their homes in other parts of Gaza,

04:06but those have been destroyed,

04:08but at least returning to areas that will be less crowded,

04:11where they can maybe begin to rebuild a life.

04:13You will see the Israeli army beginning to redeploy out of Gaza.

04:18And crucial, and just mentioned,

04:20you will see the massive ramping up

04:22and finally the allowing into Gaza by Israel

04:26of the humanitarian aid and assistance,

04:28which let's be clear,

04:29should never have been prevented in the first place.

04:31That's one of the reasons why Israel's leadership

04:33has arrest warrants issued against them

04:35by the International Criminal Court.

04:37But one can expect also on this front

04:41for Israel to nickel and dime,

04:44in other words,

04:44to try and string out and make as hard as possible

04:47the implementation also of that humanitarian assistance.

04:51One of the things we see,

04:53and we should keep a close eye on,

04:54is that the UN agency,

04:56which works with Palestinian refugees,

04:58many of whom expelled from Israel,

05:00that the creation of Israel in the Nakba,

05:02it works UNRWA,

05:04which is that agency,

05:05which is the only agency that can really see

05:08the provision of much of this assistance,

05:10is under assault by Israel,

05:12has had its funding withdrawn by America

05:14and some craven European governments.

05:17So we're going to have to see

05:18whether UNRWA can fulfill its mandate.

05:22Lots of bumps on the road,

05:23and that's before we even speak, Jamie,

05:26of the fact that this isn't something

05:29that began 15 months ago, right?

05:31We still have those core issues

05:33of will we ever see Palestinians

05:36accorded their rights,

05:38not living under an occupation

05:39of what the International Court of Justice

05:41has described as an apartheid regime.

05:43So we are very much still in the heart of a conflict,

05:46but we are hoping for some respite

05:48for people who desperately need it.

05:50Daniel, good to talk to you.

05:51Thank you for that.

05:52Daniel Levy, the former advisor

05:53to the Israeli government.

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