Gershon Baskin tells CNN that essentially, what Hamas and Israel are agreeing to is the deal that president Biden presented in the end of May.
Now, let’s move to former hostage negotiator Gershon Baskin, who is the Middle East director of the international communities organization. And he is joining us live from Jerusalem. Thank you for your time. We were just hearing from Eliot there there is optimism today that a deal is going to be done, but obviously sticking points still remain. What is your feeling as to whether we will see a deal
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today? >> I think it’s very likely today or tomorrow. In the coming days, we will see this deal finally getting done. The adline of January 20th, the swearing into office of president trump is the difference between now and everything that’s been on the table for the last months. Essentially, what hamas and Israel are agreeing to is the deal that president Biden presented in the end of may. It’s been on the table this whole time, and now it’s getting to the finish
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line because the trump team has told prime minister Netanyahu that he needs to have this war finished. By the time trump enters the white house. And apparently the Americans have promised to the Egyptians and the qataris to tell hamas that they will ensure that Israel will end the war by the end of this 42 week, 42 days deal. In the second round of the 42 day deal, that is, um, what’s disturbing about the whole thing is not only that it’s taken months to reach the same
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agreement that’s been on the table for so long. But rather than implementing a deal over a three month period, this could actually be done in three weeks. And that’s what really angering, particularly the hostage families. >> Um, just take us through the internal politics away from the international politics that Netanyahu is dealing with. He’s obviously concerned about the collapse of his government by signing any sort of peace deal, isn’t he? He’s got this real resistance from the hard right to any sort of deal. Just
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explain the pressures that he’s been under internally, which is trying to balance with the white house. >> Righti think it’s very clear that Netanyahu will get a majority in his government. His government will not collapse. The two right wing parties of ben-gvir and smotrich may vote against the agreement in the cabinet, but they are unlikely to leave the government and bring us about new elections. The refusal of Netanyahu to agree to the terms of this deal have been more about his refusal to, one, take
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responsibility for what happened last October 7th to prevent the creation of a national commission of inquiry into those events, and to prevent the call for new elections, because since the war broke out on October 7th last year, Netanyahu does not enjoy a majority in the polls in Israel to create a new government should there be new elections. So prolonging the war has been the mainstay of Netanyahu’s policies until now, when he is being forced, because of president trump, to actually agree to the same terms that have been on the
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table for a long time. >> I mean, this deal is being done in three phases. How committed do you think Benjamin Netanyahu is to all phases of of this ceasefire deal? Because, you know, the shift in the shift from phase one to phase two, we’re going to see a full ceasefire come into effect, which we know is something that Netanyahu has routinely and previously rejected. >> Well, I think that Netanyahu will sell it to the public in Israel by saying that he hasn’t agreed to end the war. There is no permanent
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ceasefire. Now, um, he has a problem in explaining how he’s going to release Palestinian prisoners who have killed Israelis. And there will be hundreds of those who will be released in this deal. That’s going to be a very big problem for him. Um, and the danger here is that Netanyahu is going to be saying things to the public which go against what is being told inside the negotiating room, and it leaves open the possibility that hamas could breach the agreement itself. I would imagine that Netanyahu is betting
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on hamas’s breach of the agreements, which would enable Israel to go back to the fighting in gaza and continue the war. >> We’ve heard from all sides at various points that, you know, we’ve come close to a deal just for our viewers. How do they define when a deal has been actually confirmed? Is it when the qatari foreign minister, for example, comes out, or do we need to wait for everyone on each side to confirm it? >> Well, I think we’ll hear some kind of official statement from the U.S. Side, and probably both
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from president Biden and president trump. I imagine that the qataris and the Egyptians will announce it. Everyone’s talking about Israel and hamas signing a deal. Historically, they don’t sign a piece of paper together. They don’t talk to each other directly. And it’s unlikely that we will see a piece of paper that has all the details with the signatures of the representatives of the state of Israel and the representative of hamas. Nonetheless, there will be something official that will be presented to the public. It may not be the whole thing. There are usually secret annexes attached to these deals that we
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will never see, but there will be some kind of official announcement. >> Well, we know a ceasefire deal is badly needed. We hope
