- 1 year ago
In an address to the Israeli parliament, US President Donald Trump described the Gaza peace process as "the dawn of a new Middle East" and that a "beautiful and much brighter future" appears suddenly within the region's reach.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Okay, let me go straight to my first guest. Shosh Bedrosyan is spokesperson for the foreign
00:08media in the Prime Minister's office in Tel Aviv. Appreciate your joining us, Ms. Bedrosyan.
00:13I want to understand from you, the President of the United States has described this day
00:19as a new dawn, a historic dawn of a new Middle East. Is that how Israel sees it? Are we seeing
00:26a new Middle East or is it very premature given the huge trust deficit that still exists
00:32on either side of the divide between the Palestinians and the Israelis?
00:36Well, I'll take you on a micro scale of that. Can you imagine that 20 human beings were trapped
00:44in Gaza by a terror organization in underground tunnels and after two years, they get a second
00:51chance at life and are now back in Israel, reuniting with their families, feeling these embraces
00:58for 738 days. They miss these moments. And this is an incredible moment of a new chapter for Israel,
01:07a new chapter going forward where these families are reunified. And the Prime Minister has promised
01:14since day one, he will bring back all of our hostages. Here we are now, all 20 of our living
01:21hostages are back. People feel here in Israel, they can breathe again. They feel as if they have the
01:26ability to go on with their life and they don't have to stay up late anymore and overthink and worry.
01:33And this is how Israel feels on a micro scale. And it's a commitment the Prime Minister has made
01:39since day one. And it's a commitment he is following through on. In addition, we still have
01:4528 bodies inside of the Gaza Strip. At this point in time, I'm hearing that the IDF actually just
01:52picked up the remains of two possible Israeli captives. At this point in time, we do know they
01:58still need to be identified, they will be brought to our forensic institute in the Tel Aviv area.
02:04And then their family, if it is, in fact, an Israeli hostage, their family will be notified. But I'll tell
02:09you, the mood here is, it feels like it's new energy. There's new life. There's life back in
02:16Israel, the life that everyone has missed. And the Prime Minister has made it his goal to do this.
02:21And here's what's following through on it.
02:28You're mentioning the Prime Minister and the fact that you claim that Prime Minister Netanyahu, right from day
02:34one, said he would bring the hostages back. 20 of them came back today, the ones who were living. But
02:38Donald Trump seems to be taking a lot of the credit for what has happened. Does the Israeli government
02:44also recognize that it was Donald Trump who essentially piloted this and therefore he was
02:50the real driver of this entire exchange of the hostages?
02:56Well, President Trump is one of the reasons why we got to the finish line here. Remember, Hamas has
03:02consistently been an obstacle in negotiations. And with the help from President Trump and the diplomatic
03:08pressure he put on the terror group, we have gotten to the point where Hamas agreed to release all of our
03:15hostages. And Prime Minister Netanyahu thanks President Trump day in and day out for all of his support for the
03:22state of Israel in the past, in the present, in the future. President Trump has been the greatest friend to the
03:29state of Israel, pretty much in the entire White House. That's what the Prime Minister Netanyahu consistently
03:35says. He is the greatest friend Israel has ever seen in the White House. So it's this incredible
03:41relationship and coordination. Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump have had together
03:46to get us to this point. In addition to all of the military pressure and the decisions Prime Minister Netanyahu
03:53has needed to make in order to get to this point in time. Together, the two of them are two incredible
03:58forces and leaders who who got life back today for Israelis, who got these moments back for Israelis.
04:09Well, Shosh, the reason I asked you whether this is really a historic new dawn in the Middle East,
04:14because the question still arises over what happens to Gaza, what happens to the idea of a Palestinian,
04:21an independent Palestinian state? Those issues seem to be kept on a back burner for a future date. Who is
04:27to? Can you give any kind of guarantee that Israel will work towards ensuring that there is some kind
04:34of a agreement on the eventual formation of a two-state solution of two states, Israel and Palestine,
04:44side by side? Or is that not even being considered or contemplated at the moment? Or indeed, what happens in Gaza next?
04:50Well, I don't think that anything is put on the back burner. What we saw today, the release of our
04:56hostages was just the first phase of this plan that's currently still being worked out. Remember,
05:04Prime Minister Netanyahu has made it very clear, and he does see a future for this plan. And he has said
05:09that from the beginning, that Hamas needs to be demilitarized and needs to be disarmed. Hamas cannot
05:16have a future in Gaza governing the Palestinian people. And Gaza can no longer pose a threat to the state of Israel
05:24ever again. There can no longer be terrorism in Gaza. And so, of course, this has been an objective for the
05:32Prime Minister since October 7th, with the top one, of course, being to release all of our hostages, but also making sure
05:39there is no threat inside of Gaza as well. And of course, all of these things still need to be officially worked out.
05:47But that is, you know, what this 20-point plan says.
05:50No, but let's be very clear. Are we in a situation where we can say with any conviction
06:00shows that we are heading towards some kind of a permanent peace? Or is this a temporary truce?
06:062,000 Palestinian prisoners have been exchanged. We still don't know whether Hamas has been fully
06:11demilitarized. I come back to it. Is there a commitment to a long-term peace in Gaza that would
06:19include a two-state solution of an Israeli and Palestinian state coexisting peacefully side by side?
06:26Is that, wouldn't that really be the breaking of a new dawn in the Middle East?
06:31Well, of course, the goal is to create peace in the Middle East. That's all Israel has ever wanted.
06:42And it's all Israel will ever want is to create peace in the Middle East. And the first step of that
06:48is making sure that the rest of the phased plan and the entire plan goes through.
06:55And, you know, of course, those details still need to be worked out at this point in time.
07:00But this is, the Prime Minister is pushing forward here for what I just named, which is, like I said,
07:07making sure Gaza doesn't pose a threat to Israel.
07:08No, but I don't see, sorry to persist, ma'am, but I don't see anywhere in the plan the idea of a
07:16Palestinian state being mentioned. 140 countries have recognized it in the past. In recent weeks,
07:22many other countries have recognized it. Does Israel still refuse to accept the idea of a
07:27Palestinian state, which could be the next step or at least the end goal? Is that an end goal or not
07:33is what I'm asking? Because the hostages released was an important element. But do you concede that
07:40eventually for a permanent durable peace, Israel will also have to do much more?
07:47This is a first step to getting peace in the Middle East. That's what I'm trying to tell you.
07:52And there are still so many things that need to be worked out. The first, what I can tell you that's
07:56happening right now, and I just, you know, will reiterate it in this interview for you, is the
08:02fact that we're currently in a moment. We're focused on this moment, which is still needing to get back
08:0828 bodies. I mean, we need to talk about that in order for there to even be conversations about what
08:14could even happen next. We're still in the first phase of all of this. Hamas has not provided 28
08:19bodies at this point in time. That is the focus of Israel right now. There are plans for the future of
08:25what that could look like. But I'm happy to discuss with you the first phase of all this,
08:29because that's what's happening right now. And that's the information I can provide you with.
08:36Okay, so just in conclusion, what does this first phase of a hostage exchange, where hostages have
08:42come back home, Palestinian prisoners have been exchanged in return, what does this first phase
08:48mean for Israel today? That's the big question. What is this first phase, therefore, a sign that we can
08:55say with some confidence that we are seeing the end, at least of the war? Is there a guarantee that
09:00there will be no further bombings or any kind of violence perpetrated in Gaza? Because there are those
09:09who feared on the Palestinian side that the moment Hamas releases the hostage, they lose the one lever
09:15they may have over Israel. Well, they shouldn't have hostages in the first place. These are innocent
09:22people that were taken on October 7. I don't, there shouldn't even be a conversation about leverage,
09:28because they shouldn't have any innocent people in their possession to begin with. But going back to
09:35your comment, you know, there's a ceasefire in Gaza right now. And that's what is currently taking
09:42place. But you mentioned, of course, what does, what does this all mean for Israel? And like I said,
09:51I don't think the full first phase of this, and it's not, it's not completed. We're still waiting for
09:59these 28 hostages, five hostages to come back. And we're still in this moment, you know, like I said
10:07before, you know, the IDF said that they would likely be collecting remains for hostages at some
10:14point today, but only two of them have been picked up at this point in time. And we don't know if
10:18they're hostages yet. It hasn't even been confirmed. It needs to go through an entire identification
10:23process, which could take hours, it could take days. But we're still in this moment. And let's
10:29not forget that there are families that still need to bury their loved ones who do not even have the,
10:34the remains of their loved ones in this possession at this point in time.
10:37I take your point. That point is well taken, Shosh Medrosyan. I appreciate you joining us on this and
10:48describing what really this moment has meant there at the moment for the Israel government. Thank you so
10:53much for joining me here on the news today. I appreciate you taking the time at a time what's been
11:00a dramatic day for your country. I want to turn from there to the other side of this war that's taken
11:06place over the last two years. Isa Amro joins me. She's director of working for peace and justice.
11:12She joins me live. He joins me live from Gaza. I appreciate you joining me. You might have heard
11:20what the Israelis are saying. They want to be in the moment. They believe this is the first phase
11:24of an extended plan. There's no commitment as to what happens in the future. For now, it's about
11:30hostages released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Are you seeing as Donald Trump is saying,
11:35this is a new dawn for the Middle East or this is just a temporary truce, Isa?
11:42Unfortunately, the Palestinians are still suffering. We still suffer that we don't have enough food
11:48in Gaza. We don't have livable houses. We don't feel safe. People are sleeping in the streets. The houses
11:57are demolished. There is no enough medical care systems. The hospitals were demolished. The schools,
12:05the universities. So there is no real life in Gaza still. The Gaza Strip is still under siege and under
12:13occupation and under a real threat of that the ceasefire is not sustainable. On the other hand,
12:24in the West Bank, we see settler violence, settler terror toward Palestinian people. We see occupation.
12:31We see apartheid. Palestinians in the West Bank don't have enough fuel, enough electricity, enough
12:39water to drink. And in the same time, Palestinian prisoners and Palestinian hostages, they're still in
12:47Israeli jails. We have around 10,000 Palestinian prisoners and hostages in the Israeli jails.
12:52And our rights are not fulfilled and not talked about. This is a very important ceasefire. I am very
13:00happy that the Israeli hostages, they finally met their families safe. I hope from being one that...
13:06Why do you speak... No, no. Why do you speak about the rights of the people of Gaza, which you say also
13:16need to get their space, their dignity? And I know that there's been enormous suffering in Gaza. There
13:21will be those from the Israeli side who will say, the Palestinian people in Gaza, in West Bengal,
13:27need to completely distance themselves from Hamas. That you cannot be seen to have not condemned that
13:38terrible terror attack of October 7th. That was the starting point which has led us to this moment.
13:45Do you concede that there needed to be a stronger response from within the Palestinians to what had
13:51happened on October 7th or not? Something very important. Our problem as Palestinians didn't
13:58start in October 7th. Even Hamas is a new party. And we were occupied in 1967 in the West Bank and
14:06Gaza. Hamas didn't exist that time. Hamas is a new party. And if we remove Hamas, and Hamas now agreed
14:12to be removed from Gaza. Will Palestinians have rights? Will Palestinians have their own self-determination?
14:20Did your guest Shosh talk about two-state solutions? She avoided to talk about Israeli
14:27commitments to end their occupation, their apartheid, their genocide, their siege on Gaza.
14:34It's about the people, the Palestinian population being occupied, Palestinian people being evicted from
14:40their homes in the West Bank, in Gaza Strip, and everywhere. It's about that we are controlled by
14:45Israeli government without being able to have equal rights. So the Israeli occupation is the main issue,
14:53is the main route. And we said it from day one, that without negotiation, without peace agreement,
15:00without a real recognition of the Palestinian people, the Palestinian PLO recognized the state of
15:06Palestine. But unfortunately, the Israeli government didn't recognize the state of Palestine until now.
15:12And they don't see us as equal human beings who deserve dignity, who deserve freedom, who deserve justice,
15:20and who deserve self-determination. It's about us being without basic human rights as Palestinians.
15:26Is our justice, is our justice, just as the Palestinian spokesperson, just as the Israeli spokesperson
15:36of the government was unwilling to give a commitment on a two-state solution. Are you willing to condemn
15:43Hamas unequivocally? Are you willing to accept that what happened on October 7th was unacceptable? Because
15:50unless you bridge the trust deficit, you don't trust them, they don't trust you. Are you willing to condemn
15:55and demand that Hamas demilitarize or not?
16:00Something very important. We are not equal with the Israelis. There is no two sides. There is oppressed
16:07people who are the Palestinians, and there are oppressors who are the Israeli government and the Israeli
16:14leaders. And there are people who are living under occupation without basic rights and without basic
16:19political rights and occupation. About October 7th, for sure, we disagreed as Palestinians about the
16:31violence that was used by Hamas during October 7th. And we condemn any targeting of any civilians,
16:37Palestinians, Israelis, any civilians, all civilians in the region should feel safe, should be protected,
16:45should be equal, should be recognized as nations and as human rights, as a human being who deserve
16:52equality. Here, we don't have equality. It's something very important. Majority of Palestinians
16:57and the PLO from day one condemned all violence happening, even the violence committed from Hamas.
17:04It's not about Hamas. It's about us and the Palestinians. The majority of Palestinians, they are
17:10under a real eviction, under a real oppression. We are living without basic rights. We have no
17:17transportation. We have no enough water. We have no enough electricity.
17:27Can I ask you in conclusion, therefore, are you hopeful that we've reached the end of the war? Because in the
17:31last few days, there were casualties reported, Palestinian casualties that were reported even in the last few
17:40days. Are you now reasonably hopeful after what you've seen today, that some element of peace is slowly
17:46returning? Unfortunately, I'm not hopeful. From my experience, the Israeli government violated all peace
17:56agreements, from Oslovis agreement, to the Hebrew redeployment agreement, to the first ceasefire
18:03agreement, and to the second ceasefire agreement. And I think they will not at all, you know, respect this
18:09agreement, because they don't want any commitments to two-state solution. Who's refusing peace is the Israeli
18:15government. Who's refusing sustainability and equality and human rights, and who's refusing to implement the
18:24international law, and who is refusing to follow the international community, and all that countries
18:30recognize the state of Palestine as a state is the Israeli government. Unfortunately, the Israeli government
18:35until now don't want to make peace, and they don't want at all to give the Palestinians their rights of
18:41freedom, justice, equality, and self-determination, and the state.
18:45Okay, okay. I'm going to leave it there, Isa. You've spoken with passion, you've spoken with emotion,
18:55and I think one can register that given again what's happened in the last couple of years to the
19:00Palestinian people in Gaza. Isa Ambro for joining us there. I appreciate you also giving us a Palestinian
19:07perspective. Thank you very much.