00:00Well, staying with Gaza, Professor Mary Calder is from the London School of Economics and
00:06Political Science. Professor Calder, thank you for joining us. What do you make of President
00:11Trump's proposals for Gaza, then?
00:13Well, I think they're completely mad. First of all, it's completely unacceptable and contrary
00:21to international law. And secondly, it's impractical. Why should people move? Who is
00:29going to provide them with these wonderful homes he's talking about? And thirdly, if
00:35it happens, it will be another Nagorno-Karabakh war. That's what happened to the Palestinians
00:41in 1948 and will be the source of endless future war.
00:47Now you say completely mad, but we are talking about here the most powerful man in the world.
00:52Donald Trump has seen an outcry internationally, but can he go ahead anyway and do what he
00:56likes?
00:57I don't think so. I think it's quite alarming that he is the most powerful person in the
01:06world. But I think, and there don't seem to be very strong and powerful domestic constraints
01:13operating in the United States, which there should be. But of course, he is the Commander-in-Chief.
01:19But on the other hand, within the Republican parties, there are a lot of differences. He
01:26got elected on an America First platform, which seemed to imply that he was not keen
01:34on interfering in the rest of the world and he wanted to focus on American problems. But
01:40instead what he's doing is making threats, not just against Gaza, but also Greenland
01:48and Panama. And I think for many on his own side, that may be quite alarming. But on this
01:56particular issue, I think the rest of the world is more or less united in opposition.
02:02And I find it very difficult to imagine how he could possibly succeed. The only people
02:07who can support him are a small group on the right wing of Israeli politics.
02:15And what Donald Trump has said is, some of it is practically factual, that Gaza is in
02:20ruins. It's uninhabitable, most of it. So what should happen to it now, in your opinion?
02:27Well, I think we need to recognize a Palestinian state and find a two-state solution for the
02:39area. I'd actually prefer a single Palestine for both Jews and Palestinians. But at the
02:45moment, what's on the table is a two-state solution. And I think there needs to be a
02:53huge investment from the rest of the world in the reconstruction of Gaza. I think one
03:00of the most terrible things that's happened has been the closure of UN Refugee Agency
03:06that has been responsible in the past for Gaza and is the most experienced agency to
03:12be able to manage reconstruction. But clearly, there needs to be a huge investment in reconstruction
03:19and helping those people who have suffered horrendously. And of course, the other thing
03:25to say is, is this going to threaten the ceasefire? How do we maintain the ceasefire?
03:33Because to go back to war after all this for those people would be such a tragedy.
03:38Yeah, absolutely. Professor Mary Calder from the London School of Economics and Political
03:43Science, we thank you for your expertise. Thank you.
Comments