Ambassador Thomas Pickering shares his views on the crisis in Gaza
Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Jordan and Israel Thomas Pickering speaks to CGTN Europe about the need for the global community to work together.
Transcript
00:00 Diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire and prevent a full-scale Israeli assault in Rafa
00:06 are intensifying. Thomas Pickering is a former US ambassador to the United Nations, Jordan and Israel.
00:12 Current situation in Gaza of course is horrific. The number of deaths on both sides but particularly
00:20 the extraordinary number of Palestinians killed in the fighting in Gaza is something that obviously
00:27 the world community should be totally concerned about and working hard to try to stop the slaughter
00:34 and find ways on the path toward a peaceful solution to the long-standing issue between
00:42 Israel and the Palestinians. And the United States has vetoed calls for immediate ceasefire in Gaza
00:48 three times already. In its latest veto on Tuesday it said the draft resolution would jeopardize
00:54 the sensitive negotiations on the captives taken by Hamas and other armed groups. So how is the
00:59 US-led resolution fundamentally different from the one put forward by Algeria? The US explained that
01:08 its concern was that the question of dealing with the hostages was not included in the Algerian
01:14 resolution. I believe that it has attempted to try to include in its proposed draft that particular
01:22 issue as well as serious and deep cautions to Prime Minister Netanyahu about going into Rafah
01:32 without a very significant and well thought out plan to protect the civilians. Something that
01:40 appears to have been lacking up until now. And do you think behind this is because the US thinks
01:47 that issues lead the talks? I think that the US believes that the problem has humanitarian aspects
01:59 of great significance and very important requirements that should be met as soon as
02:06 possible. That secondly it is very important to move a process ahead which can then be evolved
02:14 into something that American administrations have been seeking off and on for 30 or 40 years.
02:21 Which is a peaceful negotiated solution leading to two states. A state of Israel and a state of
02:29 Palestine living in peace under the broadest kind of international support and guarantees.
02:36 And do you think Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will heed US calls to halt his plans
02:42 for Rafah offensive? It's an excellent question and so far he's been very negative on this subject.
02:48 It doesn't mean that we have seen the end of the process. Hopefully that President Biden whose
02:55 policy is I've watched closely evolved over the last three months is now seeking I believe a much
03:03 more robust position with respect to how and in what way the resolution of this tragic and
03:11 catastrophic situation can be achieved. And hopefully he will be able further to strengthen
03:17 the US commitment in that direction. I don't know whether they will submit their resolution to the
03:23 council or not but it has within it if I could call it the beginnings of a capacity to make real