The Latest Peace Deal, Part 1

Shereen explains the most recent US proposed peace deal for Hamas and Israel and the events leading up to its announcement.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
All Zone media.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hello, and welcome to it could happen here. This is
Sharene and today we are going to be talking about
the current quote unquote peace plan that was presented by
the US and what they say is their attempt to
end the genocide in Rasee. They call it a war,
and I call it what it is, which is a genocide.
Earlier this month, Joe Biden announced what he claimed was

(00:24):
an Israeli peace plan to bring about an eventual ceasefire
in Jsee. But according to journalists and anyone with eyes,
the new plan is almost indistinguishable from previous plans proposed
by Hamas. We're going to get into the details of
the US plan in a little bit, but first I
want to address the immense loss of Palestinian life that
has led up to this plan, because if the plan

(00:47):
is successful, it would usher in a ceasefire to a
genocide that has killed more than thirty seven thousand Palestinians,
which is a very low estimate, and the majority of
these deaths are women and children. Only have Palestinian children
been brutally slaughtered for months, but Rauzza now has the
largest population of child amputees in the world. In November,

(01:10):
Children and RAZDA hosted a press conference in English to
beg the world for life. It's June now, and all
we've seen since then is massacre after massacre. And while
I think drawing attention to the children and the women
who have been slaughtered is immensely necessary and important, I
also want to emphasize that Palestinian men are not expendable,

(01:31):
and not mentioning the immense loss that we have suffered
across the board with men included, implies to the world
that Arab men are not worth mourning, not worth saving
nor protecting, that they are all terrorists or terrorists to
be who are simply killed as casualties in the quote
fog of war. I also think that the mention of
children is specifically used as a way to at least

(01:53):
try to make the world empathize and fucking feel something
about the lives that have been stolen. Parents literally hold
up the limp and decapitated bodies of their babies in
its broadcasts worldwide. And yet the dehumanization of Arabs runs
so deep that such graphic displays of horror and death

(02:14):
are considered normal. No one bats an eye. It is
insane that two hundred and seventy four Palestinians were slaughtered
for four prisoners of war who could have been released
in a prisoner exchange exchanges and deals that Israel has
repeatedly rejected. We will get into this more in this episode.
And people are celebrating this shameful military operation which US

(02:36):
troops were a part of, and ignoring the Palestinians that
were killed and murdered in the process, further emphasizing that
Palestinian life is not as important as Israeli life by
a huge margin. In in case you didn't hear the
details about this operation that I'm talking about, US and
Israeli troops infiltrated a refugee camp in trucks disguised as

(02:58):
humanitarian aid to trojan horse their way into further massacreing
and maiming people who were already being forcibly starved. Are
you hearing this one more time? They infiltrated a refugee
camp and trucks disguised as humanitarian aid. Israeli special forces

(03:18):
were also disguised as Palestinian refugees looking for a place
to live. When they entered the buildings where they thought
the hostages were being held. Remember in January when there
was also video evidence of the IOF pretending to be
medical staff in a hospital and then shooting and killing
unarmed doctors, nurses, and patients. Oh and then there was
the discovery of at least three mass graves at Elshiffa Hospital,

(03:42):
where bodies, including many wearing scrubs, were found zip tied
and buried in piles. Israel has been doing this for
months and years and decades, and they've been getting away
with it for months and years and decades. No one
is hiding how they feel anymore. They are out here
showing us with their actions. It's not ambiguous, it is

(04:03):
not confusing. They are making it very simple. They are
making it crystal clear. Palestinians do not matter, and Israel's
intention is to continue their ethnic cleansing of Palestine. What's
happening in Lza is not about the hostages, and it
has never been about the hostages. If that isn't clear
to you by now, you have not been paying attention.

(04:26):
A few things about the hostages. Hamas has repeatedly offered
since last year to release all hostages in exchange for
Israel releasing all Palestinian prisoners. As of November first. According
to Human Rights Watch, Israel held nearly seven thousand Palestinians
in its prisons, and many of those held captive by

(04:46):
Israel are not convicted of any crime. At least three
thousand and six hundred and sixty Palestinians being held in
Israel are under what is called administrative detention. An administrative
detainee is somewhat held in prison without charge nor trial
without charge, no crime committed. I want to take a

(05:07):
moment to bring up a report that came out recently
that's not getting nearly enough attention. It's truly horrific, and
I don't know how people are just glossing over it.
But New York Times recently reported that Palestinians are being
tortured and abused in Israeli prisons. Two journalists from the
New York Times spent three months interviewing Israeli soldiers as

(05:27):
well as Palestinians who were detained at one particular prison.
I'm not going to pretend I know how to pronounce it.
It's spelled sde space Tei m An said Teman. I'm
just going to go with that. But essentially, Israel is
carrying out a policy of systematic torture in this army base,
and this army base has been used as a detention

(05:48):
camp for Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. This was all
confirmed by a New York Times investigation. Reports of abuse
at this site had already emerged in both Israeli and
Arab media, and this was followed by outcries from local
and international rights groups about the horrific conditions there. Apparently,
it was mainly used as a quote, makeshift interrogation center,

(06:09):
but now it has become a major focus for the
accusations that the Israeli military has mistreated its detainees, including
people who were later determined to have no ties to
Hamas or any other armed groups. The investigation revealed that
at least twelve hundred Palestinian civilians were detained at this
site in quote demeaning conditions, without the ability to plead

(06:30):
their cases to adjudge for up to seventy five days
and additionally denied access to lawyers for up to ninety days.
Eight former detainees, all of whom the military confirmed were
held at the site and spoke on the record, said
they had been punched, kicked, and beaten with batons rifle
butts and a handheld metal detector while they were in custody.

(06:51):
Others said that they had been forced to wear a
diaper while being interrogated, and that they had received electric
shocks during their interrogation. According to The New York Times,
most of these testimonies were corroborated by interviews conducted by
officials from the unr WA, the UN Agency for Palistine Refugees.
The agency interviewed hundreds of returning detainees who reported widespread

(07:15):
abuse at this site, as well as other Israeli detention facilities,
including the beatings and the use of an electric probe.
An Israeli soldier who served at this site also disclosed
to The New York Times that his fellow soldiers often
bragged about beating detainees, and he observed many instances of
such treatment. He was speaking on condition of anonymity to

(07:36):
avoid prosecution, but he said a detainee had been taking
for treatment at the site's makeshift field hospital with a
bone that had been broken during his detention, while another
person was briefly taken out of sight and then returned
with bleeding around his rib cage. I strongly urge you
to read the New York Times piece in full. It
details the most horrific things I've read in recent memory.

(08:00):
I would be remiss to not mention at least a
few of them, just you understand the severity. But this
report essentially proves that Palestinians are experiencing sexual violence and
have experienced sexual violence in Israeli prisons. This is one example.
Mister l Hemlowie, a senior nurse, said a female officer

(08:21):
had ordered two soldiers to lift him up and press
his rectum against a metal stick that was fixed to
the ground. He said the stick penetrated his rectum for
roughly five seconds, causing it to bleed and leaving him
in unbearable pain. A leaked draft of the UNRWA report
detailed at interview that gave a similar account. It cited

(08:43):
a forty one year old detainee who said that interrogators
made him sit on something like a hot metal stick
that felt like fire, and he said that another detainee
died after they put the electric stick up his anus.
Doctor l Hemloui also recalled being forced to sit in
a chair wired with electricity. He said he was shocked
so often that after initially urinating uncontrollably. He then stopped

(09:08):
urinating for several days. He said that he too had
been forced to wear nothing but a diaper to stop
him from soiling the floor. Ibrahim Shaheen, thirty eight, a
truck driver, He said he was shocked roughly half a
dozen times while sitting in a chair. Officers had accused
him of concealing information about the location of dead hostages,

(09:29):
which ended up having no connection to him at all.
Another man, mister Beckett, said that he was also forces
to in a chair wired with electricity, sending a current
pulsing through his body that made him pass out. Mister
Beckett also said, along with other detainees that corroborated this,
he only received roughly three meager snacks on most days,

(09:50):
mostly bred with small quantities of cheese or jam or tuna.
The military said the food provisions had been approved by
an authorized nutritionist in in order to maintain their health,
but according to several of these detainees, that's not nearly enough,
and they lost more than forty pounds during their detention. Again,
I urge you to read the report in full. It

(10:13):
needs more attention than it is getting, but it is
horrific and this is proof of the vile mistreatment of Palestinians.
And it's from the New York Times. If you need
a source that you quote unquote trust more than an
El Jazeera or something which makes no sense. But for
those who do there it is. Now let's go back

(10:44):
to the topic at hand. We were talking about the
hostages and how Hamas had offered many times in the
past to release all the hostages in exchange for releasing
Palestinian prisoners, and despite Hamasa's offers, Israel has never agreed
to any deal which involved the release of all Israeli hostages.
On October ninth, two days after October seventh, Hamas offered

(11:07):
to release all the civilian hostages in exchange for the
IOF not entering the Gaza Strip, but Israel rejected that offer,
and many hostages have died since then, which could have
been avoided if Israel cared. A few stats. One hundred
and five Israeli hostages were freed via a temporary ceasefire

(11:28):
in November of last year. Four other hostages were released
by Hamas. Three hostages were killed by IOWF quote friendly
fire because the IOF considered them a threat as they
were waving white flags. During four Israeli quote rescue missions,
one hostage was killed one soldier was saved in what

(11:49):
Israel called Operation Golden Hand. On February twelfth of this year,
two hostages were saved and at least ninety four Palestinians
were killed. And then on June eighth, what is now
being called Operation are Non, four Israeli hostages were rescued
and at least two hundred and seventy four Palestinians were killed.

(12:09):
In a statement released after the attack, Hamas said, in
exchange for them the four Israeli hostages, your own army
killed three of your own captives in the same attack,
one of them holding a US citizenship. And it must
be mentioned that the Israeli attacks on Leis have also
killed an unknown number of hostages in hamas captivity, as

(12:31):
well as the at least thirty seven thousand Palestinians killed
since October seventh. Relentlessly bombing a tiny strip of land
or Israel knows its hostages are located doesn't really indicate
that Israel gives a shit about the lives of the hostages.
The hostages are pawns being used in a disgusting political game.

(12:52):
And I have seen several unhinged and deranged comments about
this latest operation, which again killed two undred seventy four
Palestinians in including children, in the process of saving four hostages.
The comments range in severity and psychopathy, but a lot
of them are basically saying how else were they supposed
to get the hostages back? And Israel must rescue its

(13:13):
people by any means necessary, and that this is what
you get when you mess with Israel. But after reading
the previous numbers, it is an absolute fact that the
only mass release of hostages has come through ceasefire and
prisoner exchanges. More hostages have been killed by the Israeli
army than rescued by them. A ceasefire deal means freed

(13:34):
hostages without mass death. And so if Israel really cared
about the lives of these hostages, why on earth wouldn't
they agree to a deal that can guarantee their safety.
I want to take a quick tangent only to mention
that the number of Palestinians killed in Raze is most
likely far, far greater than the reported number, because the

(13:55):
infrastructure that was used to document the death toll has
been decimated along with nearly everything else in Lesse. The
number thirty seven thousand also does not include the thousands
and thousands of Palestinians buried underneath rubble who are unable
to be found nor retrieved. The Health Ministry's director of
International Cooperation in the West Bank, doctor Yassir Bozzia, says

(14:18):
he works closely with Ministry colleagues in Rose. When he
spoke with NPR in late January from his office in Ramalla,
he said and estimated ten thousand people were missing and
presumed dead under the rubble in razz But even that
number was low. It's like a snowball, he said. It's
only an estimation. The actual number is much much higher.

(14:40):
Bozzia and doctors Andrez say the death count published by
the Health Ministry also largely excludes people who have died
from a lack of adequate treatment, disease, and other impacts
from the war, like hunger. The death toll only includes
people killed by the occupation bombardment, he said. The Health
Ministry described its casualty figures as those resulting from Israeli aggression. Bozzias,

(15:05):
as a colleague in Graze told him that the only
way to really know how many people have died is
to count the number of people still alive compared with
the population of Raze before October seventh. He said that
because of the continued brutal genocide going on in Raze,
it is impossible to have the real number. It will
only be revealed after the violence has stopped. The death

(15:28):
toll also does not make clear how many militants are
among the dead. Israel says its forces have killed more
than ten thousand fighters in Razze, but Israel has also
not provided any sort of evidence or detailed information to
back up its estimate. In every interview, every Israeli correspondent
or spokesperson has given They always given number for the
estimated fighters or terrorists killed in Razze, but they're very

(15:51):
unsure about how many civilians have been killed. And now
to go back to the US peace plan that is
basically identical to previous peace plans proposed by and agree
to buy Hamas. What does this US plan propose? This
plan has three stages. The first stage proposes to involve
a six week ceasefire, during which the Israeli army will

(16:12):
withdraw from the populated areas of Razze, hostages including the
elderly and women, would be exchanged for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Civilians would also return to all of Braze, with six
hundred trucks carrying humanitarian aid flooding the enclaved daily. Biden
said the second phase would see Hamas and Israel negotiate

(16:33):
terms for a permanent end to hostilities. Biden said the
ceasefire will still continue as long as negotiations continue. In
the third phase, a permanent ceasefire would follow, facilitating the
reconstruction of the Resids Strip, including sixty percent of clinics, schools, universities,
and religious buildings damaged or destroyed by Israeli forces. This

(16:58):
plan is nearly identical to a previous plan that Hamas
had already agreed to on May sixth, a deal which
Israel ended up rejecting. We will talk more about that
deal later on, but for now, let's focus on the
US's plagiarized version of this plan and who supports it.
But first, let's take an head break and we'll be
right back, Okay, And we are back so soon after

(17:31):
the announcement of the US deal, Hamas said that it
views the proposals in this deal positively. This week, US
Secretary of State Anthony Blincoln tool arrived in the Middle
East on his latest trip to the region, which he
said will focus on Washington's Gaza truce proposal and the
future of the Palestinian territory. B Lincoln met Egyptian President

(17:53):
ELCSI and Cairo on Monday, repeating US calls for Hamas
to accept the truce deal. Speaking to reporters before leaving Egypt,
b Lincoln squarely blamed Haamas for prolonging the quote unquote war,
saying that Hamas is an outlier in the region for
not agreeing to the US deal. He told reporters, my

(18:14):
message to governments throughout the region, to people throughout the region,
if you want to cease fire, press Hamas to say yes.
Blincoln arrived in Israel later on that same day and
met with nan Yahu. He will further hold talks in
Cutthoud and Jordan this week. The State Department said Blincoln
reaffirmed the quote ironclad US commitment to Israel's security during

(18:37):
his meeting with Nannyahu. A curious note is that while
blincn portrayed the truce plan as Biden's proposal, when Biden
made the deal public. Initially, he said it was an
Israeli plan. This could be just a little slip because
Biden is very old, or it could be a slip
that just confirms what we've all known to be the
case all along, that the US and Israel are one

(18:59):
and the same, especially when it comes to their political
interests in military power. And while US officials have insisted
that Israel agreed to this proposal, various Israeli officials, including
the n YAHOO, have vowed to continue fighting until the
elimination of Hamas. Just days before Biden announced his initiative,

(19:20):
a top Israeli officials said the military would fight in
Jjsee until at least the end of the year. On
the other hand, Hamas has said that it will only
agree to a deal that would lead to a lasting
end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli
troops from Rasee. Hamas reiterated its position on Monday after
its political chief Ismael Hanie, met with officials from the

(19:42):
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a smaller armed group in Duha. Hamas
said in a statement. The two delegations discussed the indirect
negotiations and efforts to end the war, stressing that any
agreement must include a permanent ceasefire, comple leet withdrawal from
the Gaza Strip, reconstruction, ending the siege, and a serious

(20:05):
prisoner's exchange. Hamas previously called for a explicit commitment from
Israel to a lasting ceasefire, and despite the lack of
clarity in the Israeli position, Biden administration officials have repeatedly
said that Hamas is the only hurdle to ending the
war in Gaza. The US blaming Hamas for prolonging what

(20:26):
it calls a quote unquote war again not a war,
a genocide is ridiculous. Hamas has accepted previous peace deals.
It has offered previous peace deals. Israel has been the
one to reject them, and then the US comes along
and just repackages one of these previously agreed on deals
that Hamas had endorsed and has the audacity to then

(20:47):
blame Hamas for obstructing peace. Give me a break. Additionally,
the US truce plan does not outline plans for the
future of Gaza after the war, but the US government
has said that it would not accept Hama's rule in
the territory The Biden administration says it wants a quote
reformed Palestinian Authority aka the PA to eventually govern Gaza,

(21:11):
but the Israeli government has ruled out allowing the occupied
West Bank based PA to govern Huzze, with Natanyahu like
inning FATA, the dominant faction in the PA to Hamas.
Other support for the plan has come from some Israeli politicians,
as well as the families of the hostages and the
international community. Benny Gantz, a centrist member of Israel's three

(21:35):
man war Cabinet and Prime Minister Benjamin and Yahu's principal rival,
spoke positively of the proposal and asked his two colleagues
in the war cabinet, Nan Yahoo and Defense Minister Yov Galant,
to convene to discuss the quote next steps. Gance had
previously threatened to leave the cabinet by June eighth if
no plan for Gaza beyond the war had been agreed on,

(21:57):
and on Sunday, June ninthly announced his resignation. Gans's resignation
does not immediately pose a threat to Naanyahu, who still
controls a majority coalition in parliament, but it does mean
that the Israeli leader becomes more heavily reliant on his
far right allies. Ganz said that the Enyaho was making
quote total victory impossible and that the government needs to

(22:20):
put a return of the hostages seized on October seventh
by Hamas above political survival. Gans is a popular former
military chief, and he joined the Nyahu's government shortly after
the Hamas attack in a show of unity. His presence
also boosted Israel's credibility with its international partners. Gans has
good working relations with US officials. Ganz canceled a planned

(22:44):
news conference the night of June eighth, after the for
Israeli hostages were rescued from Gaza earlier in the day,
which again was Israel's largest operations since October. Another reminder
that two hundred and seventy four palest Indians, including children,
were killed in the assault. Another Israeli politician who supported
the US peace plan was opposition leader Yard Lipid, who

(23:05):
also promised to support the plan, pledging support of his
party yesh Atid, which translates from Hebrew to there is
a future if those from ultranationalists and far right parties
withdraw support. United Nations Secretary General Antonia Gutierrez also endorsed
the plan, as have many of Israel's political allies, including

(23:25):
the UK and Germany. So who doesn't like the plan.
Much of the opposition to the peace Plan has come
from within the Israeli cabinet. N Yahoo said any initiative
that did not include a quote elimination of Hamas's capacity
to govern and make war was a non starter. In
his announcement on Friday May thirty first, Biden seemed to

(23:48):
indicate that he regarded Hamas's presence within Gaza to have
been so downgraded that a repeat of October seventh was impossible.
As expected, the ultranationalists and extreme right members of Na
Nyahu's right wing coalition, which includes it Tamar Bengavie and
Bezileel Simotric, threaten to withdraw from the government and cause

(24:08):
its collapse if the proposals were accepted. So as far
as Israel's politics are concerned, it seems like the outcome
may end up depending on what El Jazeira describes as
quote parliamentary arithmetic. The far right in ultranationalist parties hold
fourteen seats, while Gansa's block only has eight seats, meaning

(24:29):
the far right has far more influence on a prime
minister who wants to stay in power. As for Lapid,
his seventeen seats are offered as support only in what
pertains to the peace proposals. This leaves that in Yahoo
reliant on the far right block. As far as the
deal being accepted, that is still not clear. Despite what

(24:51):
the US says, the families of Israeli hostages are putting
pressure on the government to accept the deal, as are
some parts of Israel's political class, but pressures to reject
the deal are just as strong, and it will remain
to be seen whether Ntan Yahoo chooses his own survival
or the return of the hostages. But if one thing
is clear, it is that Netan Yahoo does not really

(25:14):
care about the hostages because the IOF under his command
continues to bombard areas where the hostages can be held.
And may I remind you that the IOWEF have already
killed Israeli hostages that they have mistakenly identified as threats.
Speaking of threats, I'm kidding. There is no ad break
and there is no threat. That's the end of part
one and if you want to listen to part two,

(25:36):
tune in tomorrow talking about the history of Hamas and
how we got here. So yeah, see you then three Palestine.

Speaker 1 (25:49):
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