Ramey: Gaza Peace Plan is a Trump-led Initiative

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00:00Actually, I just want to go back to some sounds that we played where President Trump declared

00:05that the war is over. Do you have faith that this ceasefire, this exchange of hostages for

00:13prisoners can actually lead to more long-term security and stability in the region?

00:20Well, I think that, you know, President Trump has certainly heralded this peace deal as not just a

00:27short-term ceasefire, but as a bedrock for long-lasting peace in the region, you know,

00:34citing not just the recent conflict of the last two years, but rather the decades long. I mean,

00:40he said centuries, but I think the broader point is he wants to sort of have a long-lasting peace

00:46and some sort of meaningful, you know, deal that both the Israeli and Palestinian publics can live

00:52by. I think that President Trump has been sort of quite short-tempered with regards to the

00:57President or Prime Minister Netanyahu's conduct of the war in Gaza. I think that he wanted this over

01:03with, you know, campaigned on bringing peace to the region and stability to the world in the lead-up

01:09to the November elections. And now here he is, you know, not even quite a year into his term yet,

01:15and the war had still kept going. And I think President Trump was losing patience.

01:18And certainly the more dovish or peace-seeking members of his inner circle, including Vice

01:26President J.D. Vance, are heralding this as well. I mean, this is what President Trump promised.

01:32He said he was going to bring a resolution to both the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza,

01:37as well as the Russia-Ukraine conflict. And here we are right now. You know, it's taken far too long,

01:44but President Trump was able to get all the parties to the table and get them to agree to a set of

01:49terms that they would all find acceptable. And assuming everything goes well with the prisoner

01:53exchange, I think that we've got the kernel of something that can be built upon for the future.

01:59And certainly for the rest of President Trump's term, he'll be a partner for peace in that regard.

02:05Yeah. Well, let's talk about the fact that he is considered to be a partner for peace,

02:09receiving what is likely to be a hero's welcome in Israel and also in Egypt as well. I mean,

02:15he even said it's very rare that both sides, you know, the Arab leaders and Israel are happy with

02:23this outcome. But what do you make of the fact that Israel will not be present at the Gaza signing

02:29ceremony later this afternoon?

02:30Well, I think it's very clear that this was a United States-led initiative. I don't think the

02:39Prime Minister Netanyahu wanted to wind things down anytime soon. It was President Trump that got

02:45all the parties to the table. And Netanyahu and his war cabinet are going along with it. But I think

02:52that the signal is quite clear. This is a Trump-led initiative. It's a Trump-led initiative that the

02:58Israeli public, writ large, endorses and that the Arab publics endorse. And so he's getting the

03:06heroes welcomed from the Israeli public and from foreign Arab leaders and Arab publics,

03:12but not so much from Netanyahu and his war cabinet.

03:17What do you think happens to the Israeli Prime Minister from here? One of the most

03:20remarkable developments over the course of the weekend was the cheers that came from hostage

03:26square when President Trump's name was brought up and the boos that ensued when the Israeli Prime

03:32Minister's name was brought up. Do you think that his domestic position is now untenable?

03:42Oh, for sure. I think that it's remarkable. You know, in most countries around the world,

03:48when the country is attacked and there's some sort of major military engagement,

03:53there's what we call a rally around the flag effect. And incumbent governments get a huge boost.

03:59But Prime Minister Netanyahu, you know, saw a slight boost, but nothing material in that.

04:05And I think it's important to remember that before October 7th, 2023, there were massive protests in

04:10Tel Aviv. Millions of people taking to the streets, protesting against Prime Minister Netanyahu's

04:15judicial reforms, calls for across the ideological spectrum, left, right and center,

04:21both Jews and Arabs within the Israeli state for Netanyahu's government, for him personally to be

04:28held accountable and for his government to be brought down. And now with the war over, I think

04:33those voices are already clamoring for change. And just in the past week or so, opposition leader

04:39Yair Lapid was plotting his attempt to take down Netanyahu within the next couple of months.

04:47Indeed, Netanyahu's coalition has been very, very fragile from the get-go, relying on extremist

04:52voices on the Israeli right in order to cobble together a bare majority in the Knesset.

04:57And all it takes is one of those partners to back out and the government could fall quite easily.

05:03So I would expect to see, especially in the coming weeks and months,

05:05not only calls for Prime Minister Netanyahu to be ousted, but actual attempts in the legislative

05:12chamber, the Knesset, to try to bring down the government and have new elections.

05:17Okay, so that's on the Israeli side. Something else I want to flag over the weekend,

05:21there were multiple reports of fighting within the Gaza Strip, Hamas officials looking to reassert

05:27control and security in some areas and also punish those who they thought were allying themselves

05:33too closely with the Israeli side. What does that tell you about the challenge ahead in terms of

05:41reconstructing and rebuilding a credible governance in Gaza when Hamas themselves don't seem to want

05:48to let go so quickly? Well, I mean, this is the challenge. I mean, so the Israeli military has

05:56pounded Gaza for two years now. And while a huge amount of infrastructure is damaged and countless

06:04lives are lost, Hamas's ability to wage war is still largely intact. And though they've lost some

06:11leaders along the way, the essential apparatus of the Hamas-led government in Gaza and the military

06:17equipment to back that up are still there and still intact. And just as the withdrawal happened,

06:23we, you know, I've seen countless images and videos from the Gaza Strip showing Hamas reasserting

06:30its presence in the area. And indeed, there are going to be reprisals and it's going to be a

06:37challenge. And I wouldn't be surprised to see Prime Minister Netanyahu try to use this as a threat to

06:43say, well, you know, Hamas continues to rearm itself. We reserve the right to resume hostilities. I don't

06:49think President Trump would be too positive about that. But I think it's going to be a serious

06:54challenge. There were wide gaps between the government in Gaza versus the government in the

06:59West Bank, the Fatah-controlled government there. And how things are going to play out going forward

07:06are going to be incredibly tricky, because Gaza is going to need to be rebuilt. And the question is,

07:10to whom is the rebuilding funds going to be directed? And is Hamas going to be able to exert

07:16unchecked authority like it did right on October 7th to 2023? And that's something that only time is

07:24going to be able to tell.

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