On the ground in the Middle East: 'An amazing level of violence'
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00And I'm joined here in the studio now by France 24 senior reporter Cyril Payen who spent three
00:05years in Jerusalem as our Middle East correspondent. Cyril you just got back from a two-week reporting
00:10trip there. Tell us about your impressions this time around. Well it's a mixed impression. The
00:16first thing which has come to my mind is that I'm amazed by the the level of violence which we
00:22we see every day but it looks like very much increasing on multiple fronts so it looks very
00:28much like something so different from the time we were there a few years ago and from what we have
00:34been experiencing in this part of very boiling part of the Middle East. The other feeling is a
00:39sadness because when you get to know Jerusalem, this part of the of the world, the people who
00:46have been killed, the people who are suffering have names, have faces, especially in Gaza and
00:51in the West Bank. So it looks like very much this spiraling of violences that we don't
00:58see any much end and now we have the the center of gravity of the conflict which looks like very
01:04much to go to the to the West Bank with Gaza being the forefront of the violences and so
01:10there is no ending at sight and I can tell you that the difference between my years there
01:16is like for instance Jerusalem, they were this fragile but actually coexistence, cohabitation
01:22between the communities and now it looks like very much they are back to back and some even
01:27people are just burying the idea of living together. So this is a very strong feeling of
01:33inner and deep violence in the in the community which is extremely sad regarding the situation
01:40in this part of the Middle East. Very troubling indeed. Meanwhile the war in Gaza now nearly 11
01:45months old, we have dozens of Israeli hostages still being held, more than 40,000 Palestinians
01:50killed, 18,000 dead children, the world really begging for a ceasefire to end this nightmare.
01:55Why can't we get one? Well I think again because the two protagonists are back to back. Hamas
02:01started this Pandora Box on 7 October and now you have this supremacist far-right coalition
02:08at the government of Mr. Netanyahu which for many respects have no intention and can't really
02:14for personal reason end the war. So then you have the you have some negotiators namely Hamas
02:20with Ismail Haniyeh which was the visible face of Hamas and the top negotiator. He has been killed
02:26by the Israelis which even it's a it's an open secret on 31st of July in Tehran, in Iran.
02:34So when did you put that on the table? Whether the pressure is from the United States,
02:38the international community is pushing, it's extremely difficult to put the people
02:42together. But there is also to finish something which is the moral responsibility from the
02:49international community and namely the Arab world which just didn't really take care of
02:55the Palestinian conflict, the two-state solution which was the something which was very much a
03:00platform, a diplomatic platform and the world is and the Palestinians and Israel are paying
03:05the price of this long-term uneasy way of not dealing with this diplomatic solution.