Ex-Israeli negotiator: Far-right strategy for Gaza

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00:00It's interesting just looking at what's been happening these last 20 months.

00:04I mean, I'm just wondering whether you get the impression Israel has a strategy here

00:09or whether it's sort of taking each day as it comes.

00:12What's your thinking?

00:15Well, if there is a strategy, it's not declared.

00:18And to the extent that that strategy exists,

00:20this is the strategy of the far-right factions of the government

00:24who are able to impose their will on Netanyahu.

00:27And their strategy is to eventually take Gaza over,

00:31cancel the disengagement of 2005,

00:34and settle in Gaza permanently while controlling the security perimeter of Gaza.

00:40I believe, and I think it's also validated in polls,

00:43that most Israelis do not support that.

00:46Most Israelis would like to see some other arrangement that ensures security

00:50but does not involve direct control of the Palestinians in Gaza.

00:54And therefore, I believe that the prime minister is in a position

00:57where he's actually unable, for political reasons,

01:01to articulate a vision that brings together the day after with the political horizon,

01:07the economic side with the political side, with regard to Gaza.

01:10And therefore, what we're seeing is that the Israeli government

01:13is really pushing for very small deals, you know, hostage exchange for prisoners,

01:17very, if at all, very short ceasefires.

01:22But at the end of the day, the current political structure in Israel

01:25doesn't have the ability to negotiate a war-ending deal.