Gershon Baskin relates to the question “Is peace between Israel and the Palestinians further away than ever?” by stating that best possible form of negotiation has been when the leaders of two sides are left to face each other in a room by themselves.

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The killing of a Jewish couple in front of their children in the occupied West Bank is the latest incident adding to heightened tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.

There has been violence between Israeli security forces and Palestinians over who could pray at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, Palestinian and Israeli leaders continued their verbal sparring on the other side of the world at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says that Israel is increasingly ignoring the terms of the Oslo Accords.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the UN that he rejects the allegations and welcomes the resumption of dialogue.

So is a peace deal further away than ever?

Presenter: Martine Dennis

Guests:

Gershon Baskin

Gershon Baskin

Gershon Baskin

Gershon Baskin is one of the most recognizable names in the Middle East Peace process. 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 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 member of the steering committee of the Palestinian-Israeli Peace NGO Forum, a member of the Board of ALLMEP – the Alliance for Middle East Peace, a member of the Editorial Board of the Palestinian Israeli Journal, and a member of the Board of One Voice. Dr. Baskin is also a member of the Israeli Council for Peace and Security. He was a founding chairman of the progressive Synagogue Kehilat Kol Haneshamain Jerusalem where he served as Chairman for three years.

Ghassan Khatib

Ghassan Khatib

Ghassan Khatib

Ghassan Khatib is Vice President for Development and Communications and lecturer of Cultural Studies and Contemporary Arab Studies at Birzeit University. Previously, he served as director of the Palestinian Authority Government Media Center (2009-2012), Minister of Labor in 2002 and Minister of Planning (2005-2006), founded and directed the Jerusalem Media and Communication center. He was a member of the Palestinian delegation for the Madrid Middle East Peace Conference in 1991 and the subsequent bilateral negotiations in Washington from 1991-93. Khatib holds a PhD in Middle East politics from the University of Durham, and is author of Palestinian Politics and the Middle East Peace Process: Consensus and Competition in the Palestinian Negotiation Team.

Categories: InsightsVideo

Martine Dennis

Martine Dennis is a British news anchor, known for presenting BBC World News. On 19 February 2014 she began work at Al Jazeera English. Martine Dennis was born on 29 January 1961 in London to Caribbean/Mauritian parents. She read English and American Studies from 1979-82 at Keele University in England and Dar es salaam. Martine started her broadcasting career as a graduate trainee at LBC/IRN in London in 1983.There she did parliamentary reporting and made radio documentaries notably Zimbabwe - Five Years after Independence documentary.Also she covered the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Nassau, the Bahamas in 1985 interviewing Rajiv Gandhi, Mrs Thatcher and Edward Seaga. Later she joined BBC World Service Radio at the United Nations, New York in 1985, covering the Iran–Iraq war and interviewing many world leaders. In 1987 she became a presenter-producer for Focus on Africa, the BBC African Service, based at Bush House in London and in 1989 Martine became a presenter, reporter and producer at Sky News, London. She was an overnight news presenter until 1991 when she went to South Africa. In South Africa she freelanced for BBC World Service, covering South Africa's first democratic election. In 1994 she became the presenter of Carte Blanche, South Africa's top weekly current affairs feature programme. In 1995, Martine returned to London to work on current affairs programmes, including Correspondent. In 2014 Martine left the BBC to go to Al Jazeera after 20 years at the corporation. When Martine Dennis came back from South Africa in 1995, she worked briefly as a correspondent for BBC1’s Here and Now weekly programme. Later she became a main presenter of BBC World News. She presented the first edition of The World Today with Tanya Beckett when it was launched in September 2001. She remained the main presenter of The World Today (BBC News at 0500 GMT) until she left the BBC in 2014. She also presented BBC World News on various time slots. In 2014 Martine left the BBC after 20 years at the corporation to start her new role at Al Jazeera English. After joining Al Jazeera English, Martine has worked on new assignments such as interviewing Masoud Barzani about Kurdish independence and presenting Inside Story in addition to presenting regular news bulletins.