Ceasefire to locate the hostages – Gershon Baskin

In September, a member of Hamas’s negotiating team told me that they needed 3 to 5 days of a complete ceasefire to locate all the hostages, to know who is holding them, and to know their condition. Now they are saying a week.

I believe them because they do not control most of the Gaza Strip, they have no means of communication, they have never held all the hostages, and after all the Israeli shelling, over 80% of all the buildings in Gaza have been damaged, and it is very possible that there are hostages under the rubble of collapsed buildings, along with thousands of Gazans who are officially missing. It makes perfect sense to me that without a complete ceasefire for several days, Hamas cannot submit a list of all the hostages to Egypt and Qatar.

I also believe that the list that Hamas will submit and the two mediators will be genuine – I do not think Hamas will lie to them. Instead of Israel and Hamas arguing about which of the hostages will be released in a partial deal, it would be better to end it with a complete and comprehensive deal – to end the war and return all the hostages. Since Israel has so far refused to talk to the Palestinians about who will run Gaza after the war, we can end the war and talk about it later. It’s a shame. But there’s no choice – we have to end it now.

Categories: Insights

Gershon Baskin

Gershon Baskin is one of the most recognizable names in the Middle East Peace process. He is a political and social entrepreneur who has dedicated his life to peace between Israel and its neighbors. His dedication to creating a culture of peace and environmental awareness, coupled with his impeccable integrity, has earned him the trust of the leaders of all sides of the century old conflict. Few people have such far-reaching and positive impacts on promoting peace, security, prosperity and bi-national relationships. Gershon is an advisor to Israeli, Palestinian and International Prime Ministers on the Middle East Peace Process and the founder and director of IPCRI, the Israeli-Palestinian Public Policy Institute. He was the initiator and negotiator of the secret back channel between Israel and Hamas for the release of 1,027 prisoners – mainly Palestinians and Arab-Israelis of which 280 were sentenced to life in prison, including Yahya Sinwar, the current Palestinian leader of the Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The prisoners were imprisoned for planning and perpetrating various attacks against Jewish targets that resulted in the killing of 569 Israelis in exchange for one Israeli soldier, Gilad Schalit. Gershon is actively involved in research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, environmental security, political strategy, peace education, economics, culture and in the development of affordable solar projects with the goal of providing clean electricity for 50 million people by 2020. He is a founding member of Kol Ezraheiha-Kol Muwanteneiha (All of the Citizens) political party in Israel. He is now directing The Holy Land Bond and is the Middle East Director for ICO – International Communities Organization - a UK based NGO working in conflict zones with failed peace processes.