VIDEO
The United States, Qatar and Egypt are urging Israel and Hamas to hold a new round of negotiations to finalize a ceasefire deal in Gaza. However, Hamas is urging mediators to enforce the ceasefire terms proposed by President Biden in May that Hamas already agreed to and that Israel rejected. Daniel Levy, president of the U.S./Middle East Project and a former Israeli peace negotiator under Prime Ministers Ehud Barak and Yitzhak Rabin, says U.S.-led efforts for a ceasefire are likely to fail as long as the Biden administration remains unwilling to pressure Israel. "It's quite clear Netanyahu does not want a ceasefire deal," says Levy, who adds that the Washington playbook of unlimited support for Israel and threats to keep other regional actors in line could pull the U.S. into a wider Middle East war. "America is playing the role as a member of the axis of Zionist extremism."
this is democracy Now democracynow.org The War and Peace report I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez French president Emanuel macron German Chancellor Olaf Schultz and British prime minister Kier starmer issued a joint statement Monday endorsing the latest Push by mediators in Cutter Egypt and the United States to broker a ceasefire agreement for Israel's war on Gaza the three countries have urged Israel and Hamas to meet for negotiations Thursday August 15th in either Cairo or Doha to finalize a deal however Hamas has called on the US Cutter in Egypt to implement the ceasefire proposal put forward by President Joe Biden in May instead of holding more rounds of negotiations And discussing new proposals for Gaza the May 6 proposal was agreed to by Hamas at the time and rejected by Israel in a statement Sunday Hamas said quote the mediators should force this May 6 proposal Israel instead of pursuing further rounds of negotiations or new proposals that will provide cover for the occupation's aggression and Grant it more time to continue its genoside against our people unquote on Monday State Department Deputy spokesperson Vidant Patel was asked about the ceasefire talks are the ceasefire talks uh that you called for August 15 are they still going to go ahead after what Hamas said last night so I'm aware of those comments from Hamas and we fully expect uh talks to move forward as they uh all negotiators should return to the table and bring this deal to conclusion we believe that there has been Headway made but we need to finalize this agreement uh continue to close uh and Bridge some gaps uh but we believe that an agreement is possible and that's something that we're going to continue to work between the parties meanwhile the Israeli assault of Gaza continues with 32 Palestinians killed in the last 24 hours according to the Gaza Health Ministry the spokesperson from masa's armed Wing the alasan Brigade said Monday one Israeli hostage was killed and two other women captive seriously wounded in two separate incidents in Gaza the United Nations security council's meeting today to discuss the war on Gaza and the wake of this weekend's devastating Israeli air strike on a school and a mosque within it in Gaza City that killed over 100 Palestinians Daniel Levy joins us president of the US Middle East project former Israeli Peace negotiator under Israeli Prime Ministers AUD Barack and Y uh Daniel leevy welcome back to democracy Now Okay um the cutter us and Egypt calling for sitdown negotiations on Thursday August 15th Hamas saying they want to stick with Biden's proposal from May uh can you talk about how far apart um these sides are and the significance of the chief Hamas negotiator ishia having been assassinated um in tran on the day that the new Iranian president was inaugurated what that means for these absolutely look it's very hard to make the case if you are an objective Observer of this that the Israeli party ceasefire in even getting its own hostages back when it assassinates the political leader of the movement that it is in negotiations with at a very high-profile sensitive location and therefore what you read day in day out in much of the Israeli press any what you hear from many named and unnamed Israeli security officials not just those of us on the outside saying okay let me put the jigsaw puzzle together it's quite clear Netanyahu does not want to ceas fire question with regard to how far apart are the parties there is a paper there terms but what is the intention the goal of the respective parties and Hamas has been one has to just acknowledge this cut through all the attempts to say well it can only ever be Hamas that's responsible for no deal if you cut through all of that there has been a position that a deal can be made if this is an on-ramp to a permanent ceasefire to Israel withdrawing from Gaza Palestinians being able to go back uh to the areas where they previously lived many destroyed most destroyed versus a leadership which says we can have a pause we can get some hostages back by significantly less numbers of Israelis being held in Gaza still alive today that when than uh than there were when these talks began so the Israeli position is we can do some of that but the moment this first phase ends we will continue with this Relentless war on Gaza and all the human costs and catastrophes that have come with it that's the Netanyahu position so that then translates into a couple of things one is in the negotiating positions themselves Netanyahu will put in all kinds of um additional demands which he knows will derail the talks and then what do the mediating parties do and here there is of course this isn't a a team of equals when it comes to the mediators there is a premis in pares that is the United States that is the party who as we just heard from Professor MC without the arms being sent to Israel this could not continue what does the US do is it willing to so to speak lay the dead cat at the door of the party responsible namely prime minister Netanyahu or will it continue to run cover for Netanyahu for months and months it has been the latter and now we see ourselves still in a regional conflagration Dynamic and I would finally just to to to note this I think week there is a hope that maybe this theory that uh the Israeli the knesset is in recess if you're going to get Israelis out you're running out of time there's perhaps a hope that maybe nanyu despite everything will go for a deal but I think most of what this is about is trying to avoid the regional escalation by saying hey there are these talks we can get that ceasefire as we just heard if you get a ceasefire in Gaza you can deescalate the region so I think this is mostly an exercise in trying to um create and soow some confusion and offer a ladder perhaps to Iran hisbah the axis of resistance uh not to go there and it's much less sadly about actually bringing an end to the horrific realities in Gaza and I I I insist that let's just pause for a minute what the people of Gaza are going through the number of dead the number of injured the humanitarian conditions the permanent displacement you're sent from one place to another mother with no safety this appalling word laundering of safe zones that which are no such thing constantly attacked by Israel schools un compounds we we hear from Palestinians and medical workers in Gaza that people have leared to identify what does a naval artillery sound like versus a drone versus an a fighter aircraft about to drop more often than not American bombs on you this is appalling and it clear Israel being held to account for violations of international law and the insistence that Israel adhere to international law and American or any other weapons not be used in the committing of crimes war crimes plausible genocide this should not depend on ceasefire talks this should end full stop because because it is illegal and Daniel I wanted to ask you about the The credibility of the United States before the world Community given the fact that uh President Biden more than three months ago said the outlines of a deal were all had already been agreed to by the parties and here we are and there still is no uh uh no uh agreement I I I find it hard to put the words credibility in the International Community and United States in one sentence after all of this and I think much of the international uh Community if one can use that term uh does so as well what we are seeing right Washington has only one Playbook and it is a failed Playbook it is a distorted Playbook and that consists of the that restraining reing in pressuring using the massive Lev you have on Israel so that Israel will desist from committing crimes whether those are the mass crimes in Gaza or the extrajudicial provocative assassinations that threaten escalation rather than using your influence to prevent Israeli crimes you and use deterence you try and use threats to prevent Iran and others from responding to those Israeli crimes now that does a few things first of all it means that by standing with Israel as it commits these crimes you are complicit in the criminality in Gaza and in the continuation of that by enabling it secondly I do think that there is something of an ideological alignment and we just have to be clear America is playing the role as a member of the axis of Zionist extremism and I think the US having seen the shift in the balance of power go against Israel it wants Israel deterrence and to be able to drive um escalation dominance but then you ask the third question and that's where I think you were going Juan which is to say how does this serve America's interests surely there's a Divergence of Interest here and I would say that there is there is not an American interest in a regional configration but because you're unwilling to restrain Israel and all you will are willing to do is to threaten the other side more it means that you deploy more military assets it means that you put America at the risk of being dragged into a war that also means that your International reputation when you're running cover for an apartheid regime in violation of icj ICC request for an arrest warrant against its leaders it means that your reputation as you suggest is not only sulled but it is being dragged through the mud on a daily basis you can't claim to stand up for values for international law to be taking a principled position in Russia Ukraine or anywhere else when you are in this position of support for Israeli violations and it also brings politically where if you're a Democrat Administration why are you letting this guy make the weather there's a piece by the former head of the MI6 I'm hearing in London John saws in the ft and what he wrote just a few days ago was that he thinks Netanyahu wants to pull America into a regional war and wants to undermine the Kamala Harris candidacy and strengthen the prospects of trump and this is a trap that the Biden Administration has made for itself let's be very clear they are responsible for not drawing a line for not reigning Israel in and for continuing to send the weapons and it is not good enough it is embarrassing and humiliating that what they occasionally do is they leak to axios or some favored media out there hey Biden got really angry he was really frustrated with Netanyahu on their phone call do me a favor you're grown-ups be serious you send the weapons this is not America using its leverage this is America basically lining up and trying to bring others in the region into alignment with an axis of Zionist extremism and it will not deliver security for Israelis either not in the short term and not in the long term