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00:00We can now bring in our international affairs editor Ketavan Gojasani. Ketavan, good to see you.
00:04What exactly is in this proposal?
00:06Well, first of all, it has to be clear that the proposal is coming from the Israeli war cabinet, from the Israeli government.
00:14The reason why we're talking about President Joe Biden is that he was the one who made public the details of that plan.
00:21So the first phase of this proposal would be a six-week phase that would imply a
00:28complete ceasefire for those six weeks, a withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza,
00:36with the possibility for Gazans to return to their homes no matter where those homes are,
00:42the release of Israeli hostages that would include women, the elderly, the wounded,
00:46and some of the remains of some hostages, as well as hundreds of Palestinian prisoners,
00:52plus letting in at least 608 trucks a day into Gaza.
00:58During those six weeks, there would be ongoing negotiations between the Israelis and Hamas
01:03in order to get to phase two, and that's where there's still a lot of details to be worked out.
01:09But the overall plan for that phase two, if we reach that phase, would be releasing all of the
01:16remaining living hostages that would include also the male soldiers in exchange for more
01:25Palestinian prisoners, the full withdrawal of Israeli forces, so not just from populated areas,
01:30but completely from Gaza, and a, quote, cessation of hostilities permanently.
01:38That is if Hamas lives up to its commitment.
01:41And then you would go on to phase three, which is much further down the road.
01:45The start of the reconstruction of Gaza with the help possibly of Arab nations as well as
01:52the international community, something that would take probably three to five years.
01:57And at that stage, the phase three, there would be the release of the final remains of some of
02:03those dead hostages. But this all, again, conditioned on Hamas fulfilling its commitment,
02:11Israel saying that it can resume its military operation if Hamas fails to meet those commitments.
02:17But Geeta Van, the million dollar question is, will there be a deal? Because from what
02:22President Biden said on Sunday, Hamas is weakened to a point they can no longer launch
02:26an October 7th attack. But Netanyahu says he's going to keep fighting until Hamas is destroyed.
02:30So which one is it?
02:31Exactly, because this is a roadmap. There are still some elements that are not really precise
02:38in this roadmap that still are subject to interpretation. So there is hope. There's still
02:45also a lot of hurdles that could derail the whole thing. Now, the Americans believe that
02:50they have every expectation that if Hamas agrees to this proposal, then the Israelis will say yes,
02:57because it is a proposal that they largely presented. Hamas saying that it views positively
03:03this sort of three stage plans. And the Americans are pointing to the fact that it
03:09really strongly resembles a deal that Hamas said it was willing to take just a couple of weeks ago,
03:16besides some minor adjustments. But there is also a statement from Hamas saying that
03:21they will not go into negotiations until the Israelis stop the fighting in Gaza. So that's
03:26already subject to interpretation. And then if you look to the Israeli side, it is an Israeli
03:32proposal, but it's still possible that there are some domestic issues that could derail this.
03:38Netanyahu said that Biden's outlining, Biden's description of the plan was pretty accurate,
03:44but that, as you said, Israel would continue its war until Hamas is destroyed, and that the
03:50transition from face to face would be conditional, something that the Israelis would make very
03:56subjective, how they see those conditions. And finally, Netanyahu is under pressure back at home,
04:03the pressure from the families who want him to take that deal right now to release the hostages,
04:08and the far right, who is still threatening to collapse his coalition. The opposition,
04:13once again, through Yair Lapid, saying, we are here to back you if they pull out,
04:18because we want you to take that deal. Yair Lapid tweeting, I remind Netanyahu that he has
04:23our safety net for this hostage deal. And Joe Biden, in his remarks outlining this process,
04:31said there will be differences on the specific details. That is natural. If Hamas is ready to
04:37negotiate the deal, then Israel negotiators must be given the mandate, the necessary flexibility
04:44to close that deal. So he's really calling on both sides to agree to this, saying it's the
04:48only way out of this war. We'll see how things pan out. Thank you very much for that, Ketivan
04:52Kourostamidam.