Interviews
Israel arrests 80 Palestinians in search for teens
Gershon Baskin isn’t convinced Hamas operatives are behind the kidnapping.
Interviews
Pope Francis exceeds expectations for Palestinians
Gershon Baskin tried to organize a direct meeting between Abbas and Netanyahu and Pope Francis invites President Mahmoud Abbas, together with [Israeli] President Shimon Peres, to join him at his home in the Vatican.
Gilad Schalit
Talking with Gilad Shalit’s dad
Gershon Baskin told Noam, the father of Gilad Shalit, that Gilad was kept literally underground by his Hamas captors and saw the sun on one day over the span of more than five years and that he was near death.
Interviews
Replacing fear with curiosity, Israelis foray into Ramallah
Gershon Baskin says that trips by Israelis to Ramallah are needed to foster understanding after years of enforced separation that deepened the divide between the two peoples. There will never be peace in this land unless the people living on the land talk to each other and drop these walls of fear, animosity and hatred.
Interviews
Baskin of IPCRI: If there’s no Palestinian state soon, PA security forces will no longer co-operate with Israel
Gershon Baskin CEO of the Israel Palestine Research Centre [IPCRI] said that the security co-operation that has been occurring between Israel and the Palestinian security forces “will not continue if there’s no paradigm for a Palestinian state”
Interviews
Gershon Baskin speaks about Peace and the Two-State Solution at Macalester College
Gershon Baskin spoke about Peace and the Two-State Solution in the Harmon Room of the DeWitt Wallace Library at Macalester College in Saint Paul, MN.
Interviews
Israel’s bridge to Hamas
While Dr. Baskin was at a U.N. conference on Palestine in Cairo, a few months before Sgt. Shalit’s capture, Mohammed Megdad, who is an economics professor from Gaza and a member of Hamas, approached Dr. Baskin, as he wanted to meet an Israeli, something he had never done.
Interviews
The Qatar channel between Gaza and Israel
Gershon Baskin and senior Hamas member Ghazi Hamad established a relationship that emerged out of necessity because there were no other options. That private channel succeeded when all others failed and the channel has continued to operate, even after the Shalit deal was reached, particularly when it became necessary to relay messages rapidly between the two parties to avoid military escalation.
Interviews
Gershon Baskin believes that 3,000 Members Of Hamas’ Elite Fighting Forces Prepared To Carry Out Suicide Attacks Against Israelis
Gershon Baskin claims that before the ground operation began the Hamas fighters were all instructed to go to their families and say goodbye with the intent that they would not be returning alive from this battle, as they believe that they are dying in the name of God; in the name of Allah; in the name of Islam; in the name of Palestine; and they do it with honor.
Interviews
Hamas uses backchannel to Tel Aviv
According to Hamas sources, the Islamist movement sent a message from the deputy foreign minister in the Hamas government Ghazi Hamad to Gershon Baskin — without explicitly asking Baskin to forward the message to Netanyahu’s office, and not for the first time.