Israel Accepts US Ceasefire Proposal for Gaza
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What is the likelihood that we actually do get a ceasefire breakthrough in the coming days? Well, Israel has already said it accepts this plan. This plan hews largely to what the US envoy, Steve Witkoff, proposed back in early March. Back then, Israel also said it accepted it. Hamas did not. Hamas has yet to deliver a final decision on the plan this time, this round, this iteration. There are reasons that Hamas won't want to accept it. It's under increasing pressure in the Gaza Strip, not just militarily, but also because of the Israeli cut off of aid. Well, actually, the Israeli creation of an alternative aid system that's getting on its feet now and which seeks to isolate and sideline Hamas, split it off from the suffering Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip. Again, we don't know if Hamas will accept it. Hamas has main objects of objection so far appear to be in the endgame formula here. It appears to be fairly hazy as to how this war might end. It's worth remembering Hamas wants to end this war while remaining largely in power in place and Israel wants to end this war with Hamas out and gone. It's very hard to see how those two would be bridged. So we're waiting in the coming hours to hear a Hamas response. I want to ask you about the proposal to build an extra 22 settlements in the West Bank and some of the language that has come out of key Israeli officials in the last 24 hours suggesting that this could be a plan to issue the possibility of a future Palestinian state. Talk us through what is going on and some of the conversations that are being had right now within the Israeli government. Well, in principle, this shouldn't be that surprising. Successive right wing Israeli governments have said they're determined to expand settlements in the West Bank. This is in defiance of most world opinion, which sees this territory as a future Palestinian state, which sees those settlements as illegal, as being constructed in territory captured in war. The reason I think this is interesting now is the timing. We just discussed the cease fire proposal in terms of Israeli domestic opinion. Some of Prime Minister Netanyahu's religious nationalist partners would very much balk. In fact, they've already publicly said they would oppose a cease fire that entails easing up the pressure on Hamas, withdrawing from some of the territory captured in the Gaza Strip, potentially even ending the war with Hamas still in place, if that's what Hamas manages to achieve. So it could be that the timing of the announcement is to mollify those government partners and assure them that in the West Bank at least their wishes are being fulfilled. It's also worth remembering that next month in June, there is an international conference in New York headed up by Saudi Arabia, by France, which intends to revive the idea of Palestinian statehood, Israel is opposed to it, especially after the October 7th attacks that sparked the Gaza war. This could be a messaging for those international powers that that plan is a dead letter.
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