Gazans fleeing Israeli retaliation will have ‘nowhere to go,’ former Palestinian negotiator says

The United Nations says intense diplomatic activity is underway to try to prevent the conflict from spreading Secretary General Antonio guz today said he and the un’s mid East Envoy are engaged with key parties in the region and internationally guz says a two-state solution is the only way to bring peace between Israelis and

Palestinians it’s time to end this vicious circle of Bloodshed hatred and polarization Israel must see its legitimate needs for security materialized and Palestinians must see a clear perspective for the establishment of their own State realized guz also warned that with Gaza now under Israeli Siege the already Grim humanitarian situation there will deteriorate

Exponentially for more analysis on this let’s bring bring in Gate alamari he’s a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for near East policy he was a Palestinian negotiator at the 2000 Camp David Summit and the 2001 taba Summit in Egypt and he joins us now from Virginia

Gate tell me more than a thousand people have died in just three days of fighting uh Israel has declared war many people were surprised by these developments how surprised were you extremely surprised I think everyone was uh surprised uh we had a certain analysis of what Hamas was thinking of

The situation on the ground Hamas surpris surprised everyone first and foremost the Israeli military and intelligence uh Community but really all observers we were surprised with the developments but also I have to say personally we were I was surprised with the brutality that we saw Hamas is a terrorist organization that’s not news

Yet the very intentional murder of civilians was very shocking and of course we knew and Hamas knew that this is going to bring very heavy retaliation uh by Israel so the whole situation is both surprising and shocking and and that uh heavy retaliation you mentioned has already begun Israel’s Army claims

They now control areas near Gaza how might this alter of the situation I think what we’re starting to see right now is only the opening scenes and uh what will be a much longer War I think Israel right now is trying to clear some of these areas in preparation

For u a ground Invasion which by its very nature will be prolonged and will be bloody I have to say while I do hold responsible for starting this at the end of the day that does not absorb Israel from its duty to also minimize civilian casualties which sadly will occur

Anyways given the nature of the terrain and the population density in Gaza let’s talk about the civilians in the Gaza Strip we know that uh it’s very difficult for these people to leave to go anywhere where can residents of Gaza seek Refuge nowhere that’s that’s the that’s

The tragedy I mean uh to be fair the Israelis have been uh warning people in the warther a of Gaza to go deeper into the strip there are some un installations that they can stay in these are very limited installations at the end of the day the only option that

Gens will have is to go through Egypt yet Egypt has today made it very clear had informed Israel had publicly said that they will not allow uh um a refugee flow into uh Egypt and they warned Israel from putting civilians into Egypt so the Gaza population the Gaza

Civilians will be stuck in in Gaza itself with nowhere to go pretty Grim uh prediction from somebody like you who knows the situation really well what could the implications be for the broader region for the Middle East if the situation deteriorates further as you seem to suggest it most likely

Will first of all I I genuinely hope that I’m wrong uh yet if things continue the way I predict that will continue certain we will see two different levels of regional reactions one relates to Security One relates to diplomacy on the security front I think everyone right

Now is closely observing what Iran and its foxes will be doing this uh earlier today we saw an infiltration from Southern Lebanon into Northern Israel it was rebuffed yet we are looking to see would Hezbollah come in with other Iranian um proxies be it in Syria Iraq even in

Yemen the hoodis will they come in that’s one of the reasons why the US sent um carrier an aircraft carrier to the Eastern Mediterranean and we’re also observing maybe with less concern but certainly observing what’s happening in Jordan and Egypt Hamas and others would try to create instability yesterday in

Egypt a policeman killed two Israelis in Jordan I see the Muslim Brotherhood calling for a demonstrations so that’s of concern now if you zoom out and look at diplomacy we also are looking at two really two different things first of all we know that there were Israeli Sai

Talks right now they are frozen it will be frozen for a w to come the real question is what would do the Arab countries that have peace with Israel mainly the Abraham Accord countries United Arab Emirates Bahrain Etc how will they act today we saw statements from the UAE from Bahrain condemning

Hamas however if things go on if we see increasing civilian casualties these Arab governments will be in a very difficult position Visa their own publics which remain supportive of the Palestinians so we’re looking forward unfortunately to a very tense security situation and very unstable diplomatic situation do you think a diplomatic

Situation is is possible at this point I mean you served as a special advisor to the Palestinian Authority during those Camp David talks uh is a diplomatic solution possible at this point at this point no I mean look in the long term I believe the only possible solution is a two-state

Solution that’s the only way that the Jewish people can have their own State and the Palestinian people can have their own state but in the short term given the anger giving the bitterness that we see FR given the domestic politics we see among Israelis and Palestinians Israel until two days ago

Was a divided country the Palestinian Authority which rules the Palestinians has an approval rating in the single digits uh they cannot engage in diplomacy today the best that we can hope for once uh the uh fighting stop is to rebuild confidence you rebuild confidence through creating small areas

Of cooperation be it Economic Security uh environmental Etc and hope that this will start Shifting the trajectory but there a domestic homework to be done the Israelis who were until who are still governed by the most right-wing most hard run Israeli government since Israel’s creation um needs to have a

More moderate government and the Palestinian Authority needs to work on its popularity and credibility by dealing with its corruption by dealing with its lack of democracy Etc so both we need Cooperative Dynamics between the two countries but also we need a lot of domestic uh work to be done and I think

The International Community can put both the Palestinians and Israelis in this direction but this is only after the fighting stops today unfortunately I think the voice of reason will not be heard not that day today thank you so much that was gate alamari he’s a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for

Near East policy and former Palestinian negotiator thank you so much

As Israel responds to Hamas attack with airstrikes and blockades, Gazans’ only option for escape is through Egypt — a country that doesn’t want to let them in, former Palestinian negotiator Ghaith Al-Omari says.

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