Senior Fellow at the Friends of Europe think-tank Dr. Jamie Shea speaks to CGTN Europe about BRICS special meeting on the crisis in Gaza.
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00:00 The BRICS is certainly more relevant now as far as the Middle East is concerned because
00:04 when they met for their big summit in Johannesburg back in August, they invited the Saudis, the
00:10 Emiratis, and Egypt to join the group.
00:13 So that means that the BRICS now has more exposure to the Middle East.
00:17 That part is useful.
00:18 It's also good that they've invited the UN Secretary General to participate today because,
00:23 of course, most of the action to resolve the issue in Gaza is coming from the UN and the
00:27 UN Security Council, the UN agencies.
00:30 So it's very important that that agency be involved as well.
00:34 Certainly the BRICS is the type of grouping that can put pressure on Israel to agree to
00:39 a ceasefire, to agree to let more humanitarian aid in.
00:43 But many other organizations, the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, are
00:48 doing exactly the same.
00:50 So the question is, apart from pressure, what more value does the BRICS bring to this particular
00:56 affair?
00:57 For instance, will its development bank, which is going to be set up, provide more
01:02 money for that humanitarian aid or the reconstruction of Gaza?
01:06 One final point very briefly, Jamie, is one problem, however, is the BRICS is chaired
01:10 by South Africa.
01:11 And South Africa has recently accused Israel of genocide.
01:16 It wants the International Criminal Court to indict it for war crimes.
01:20 The Israelis have sent their ambassador home from Pretoria.
01:26 So the fact that South Africa is on one extreme of this argument will mean that the BRICS
01:31 won't get very much attention in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.
01:35 And the significance of China's President Xi Jinping's words?
01:39 Well I think it is significant because yes, China has long been a supporter of the Palestinian
01:44 cause, that's not surprising.
01:46 And yesterday, Beijing did host the new Arab contact group, which has recently been formed
01:52 of foreign ministers in Beijing.
01:55 And it was significant, Jamie, that the first visit to a UN permanent member made by this
02:00 Arab contact group was not to Washington or Paris or London, but to Beijing.
02:05 And it does show, I think, that people are looking to China to play an increasingly important
02:10 diplomatic role in all of this.
02:12 I think President Xi has been quite middle of the road in the sense that he's calling
02:17 for what many others are calling for, a pause, a ceasefire, the release of hostages, more
02:22 humanitarian aid.
02:24 But usefully, he's also indicated that Beijing will contribute some money itself to that
02:30 humanitarian aid.
02:31 But I think in the long run, people will wait and see to what degree Chinese diplomacy can
02:35 go beyond the humanitarian crisis management towards pushing for a two-state solution,
02:40 stopping Iran, for example, from entering the conflict, the future of Gaza, those more
02:44 long-term challenges.
02:46 Will China still be influential there as it's trying to be in the immediate humanitarian
02:50 crisis now?
02:51 Hamas says Gaza hostage talks are progressing.
02:56 Realistically, how hopeful are you?
02:59 Well, the fact that so many people are making positive noises, whether it be Washington,
03:05 whether it be the Qataris who are doing a lot of the mediating, or even the leader of
03:10 Hamas speaking just earlier this morning, who is based in Doha, the fact that we're
03:15 hearing these positive noises is encouraging.
03:17 The Israelis, however, have been a lot more circumspect, so we wait to see to what extent
03:23 any deal in the works will be acceptable to them.
03:26 They're not, by all accounts, going to get all of the hostages back, mainly 50 women
03:31 and children.
03:32 That is certainly a very positive step.
03:34 But how many days of truce or ceasefire, how long humanitarian pause will Israel give in
03:41 return?
03:43 Will it expect more hostages to be released as part of the deal?
03:46 We won't be there until those hostages are actually over the border and returned home.
03:52 So it looks positive, but these things can go wrong at the final moment very frustratingly,
03:58 and so all we can do is watch and wait and see.
04:00 The other thing, Jamie, though, more importantly, is if this deal is reached, which will be
04:04 the first sort of agreement between Israel and Hamas since the tragic events of October
04:09 7th, can both sides in the international community build on that to have further truces and
04:16 humanitarian pauses and to come to some kind of end of this current humanitarian catastrophe
04:23 taking place in Gaza.
04:25 Jamie, thank you for that.
04:26 Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow at the think tank Friends of Europe.