Gershon Baskin shares his insights with Fredricka Whitfield. regarding the involvement of the employees of The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) ( https://www.unrwa.org/) in the war in Gaza. The agency supports persons who were either legally adopted children or either married into the families of 3rd/4th/5th generation of deceased individuals who when they were alive, their normal place of residence was The area of the British Mandate in Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948 when the British Mandate ended and/or who lost both home and/or means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 War and/or any descendants of Palestine refugee males.
WHITFIELD: The United Kingdom and Finland are joining a growing list of countries saying they are temporarily pausing funding to the U.N. Agency for Palestinian Refugees. The announcement comes after Israel accused some of the agency’s staff of being involved in the October 7th attacks. Twelve members of the U.N. agency staff have been fired, and there is now an investigation into the allegations. The U.S., Italy, and Australia are also among countries suspending their funding. Israel says it won’t allow the U.N. agency to operate in post-war Gaza.
Let’s bring in Gershon Baskin. He is a former hostage negotiator. Great to see you. So will these accusations complicate talks for any other hostage release deals?
GERSHON BASKIN, FORMER HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR: I don’t think it’s directly connected to the hostage release deals. It is definitely connected to all the thinking and talking about the day after the war in Gaza. The United Nation agency responsible for Palestinian refugees, which was created after the establishment of Israel 75 years ago is a unique agency within the U.N. system. It is the only refugee agency specifically for Palestinian people. And there’s a lot of criticism about its existence as one that sustains the refugee problem. Certainly, if we’re going to be talking about a two-state solution and the creation or establishment and recognition of the state of Palestine, then there’s no room for Palestinian refugee agency within the state of Palestine where these people will be citizens. But until there is a state of Palestine, there is a made it for such an agency, which has played a crucial role in supporting 80, 85 percent of people who live in Gaza who are children and grandchildren of refugees.
WHITFIELD: Do you believe there’s credibility behind the accusations?
BASKIN: I think there is. I think that it’s very difficult for anyone to exist in the Gaza Strip for the last 18 years and not have collaborated in some way with Hamas. Hamas is a very centralized organization. They impose themselves on everyone who lives there, and there’s no doubt that the 30,000 Palestinian workers of the U.N. agency were under the watchful eye of Hamas and had to give in to whatever Hamas demands there were.
WHITFIELD: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under tremendous pressure to secure the release of the hostages. He’s also facing criticism from allies and even some in his own cabinet over the war in Gaza. Is that potentially undermining his role in working to free the hostages?
BASKIN: Well, I think we all recognize that Netanyahu’s days are numbered. When this war is over, there will be a national commission of inquiry into the failures that led to October 7th and the failures on October 7th itself, and the man at the top of the chain of command holds the key responsibility.
He is negotiating today, I think not in good faith, that he wants to prolong the war in order to postpone the national commission of inquiry. There are a lot of suspicion about his motives in governing right now, and I think that someone who’s in his position, indicted, in trial for crimes of a suspected alleged crimes of corruption as well as being in a positions to run this war, that not everyone agrees with the direction that it’s going, is very difficult to put this man in charge of the crucial issue of bringing back the hostages. That must be done, it is a moral responsibility, and yet Netanyahu is balking at the opportunities that might be there to do this.
WHITFIELD: Is it your feeling that the hostage release is secondary to the war in terms of Netanyahu, that he is not appealing to families enough about the importance of trying to release the hostages, instead focusing on ridding, eliminating Hamas?
BASKIN: Right. I think when we say the hostages can’t wait and the war effort can wait, Israel can finish the job of removing Hamas’s ability to govern and threaten Israel after the hostages are home, every day that the hostages are in Gaza is a risk to their lives. And of the 136 hostages that we believe that Hamas is holding, it is suspected that less than 100 of them are alive. And more could die every day either as a result of the Israeli bombing or executions done by Hamas itself.
WHITFIELD: And then long term, is a two-state solution the only way to a lasting peace? Do you believe it’s obtainable?
BASKIN: I think it really will depend now on the international community. I noted that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used to say the parties have to want it more than us. That’s no longer the case today when this war has spilled over to the rest of the region and endangers global security. And when President Biden says that he’s committed to the two-state solution, I think it’s time after 30 years of talking about a two-state solution that the United States formally recognize the state of Palestine. How can we talk about a two-state solution when only one of the states is recognized? There are 139 countries in the United Nations that recognize the state of Palestine. It’s time for the big ones, the OECD countries led by the United States, to do the same because we have to make Palestine real for the Palestinians if we’re going to fight Hamas.
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Fighting the ideology of Hamas means giving the Palestinians the hope that they will eventually, soon succeed in achieving freedom and dignity.
WHITFIELD: Gershon Baskin, we’ll leave it there. Thank you so much for your time and expertise. Appreciate it.
BASKIN: Thank you.
