Latest news with #GershonBaskin
Al Bawaba
13-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Bawaba
'Not about hostages anymore'—Shalit negotiator exposes Hamas' latest terms
ALBAWABA - Gershon Baskin, who was a key negotiator in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner swap, shared new behind-the-scenes information on Sunday about the continuing talks between Israel and Hamas to end the fighting and free the hostages. Baskin wrote on X (which used to be Twitter) that the head of Hamas's bargaining team had sent him a direct message. The message said that Israel kept turning down a deal to free all the hostages in exchange for ending the war for good, choosing instead to make partial deals that show they want to keep fighting. Baskin says the message said, "The hostage issue does not appear to be a central concern for the Israeli public." The Hamas mediator is also said to have said that the group is ready to let a skilled, independent body run Gaza after the war. He or she also made it clear that Hamas would not be a part of this government. What Netanyahu is doing and how the US is involved Baskin said that U.S. President Donald Trump has been persuaded by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to put off signing a complete deal. Netanyahu is said to have said that pulling out of Gaza completely would let Hamas take back control, steal aid, and build up its forces, which is an excuse used to keep troops in the Strip. Yesterday I received a message from the head of Hamas's negotiation team. The following two sentences are his most important message to the Israeli public: **"Israel has repeatedly rejected our proposal to release all Israeli hostages at once in exchange for ending the war. They… July 13, 2025 Baskin says Trump agreed with this argument and agreed to put off any deal until after July 28, when the Knesset goes on vacation for three months. People see this move as a way to keep Netanyahu's weak alliance together until at least October. Setbacks have happened in the talks in Doha, which are being led by Qatari, Egyptian, and U.S. officials. Baskin said that Israel sent Hamas relocation plans that they knew they would be turned down, especially ones that showed control over the Morag passage, which is a key area between Khan Younis and Rafah. He also said that Israel lied to the U.S. about how the "Gaza Humanitarian Foundation" worked, and that it is not helping more than two million people who have been forced to leave their homes. Israel is also pushing for a controversial "humanitarian camp" in Khan Younis, which has been criticized around the world for being cruel and illegal. The biggest problem is still Israel's armed presence in Gaza after the truce. Israel wants to keep control of some areas because it has strategic reasons to do so, but Hamas wants Israel to leave all areas that were reoccupied after March 2. Channel 12 says that Israel is getting ready to submit new pullout plans after being told by Qatari officials that the old plans could have ended the talks completely. Even though talks were still going on, no real progress was made over the weekend. The two sides still have different ideas about how far Israel should pull out, especially in the Morag area.
Channel 4
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Channel 4
Can Trump negotiate a peace deal in Gaza?
We spoke to the Israeli hostage negotiator Gershon Baskin who's in Jerusalem and Sarah Yerkes who's in Washington. She's a former member of the US State Department's policy planning team and now works on the Middle East programme at the Carnegie Endowment think tank.
RTÉ News
30-06-2025
- Politics
- RTÉ News
Trump: "Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back"
Dr Gershon Baskin, Middle East director of the UK-based NGO International Committees Organisation and former Israeli hostage negotiator discusses the possibility of a US-led ceasefire in Gaza.
The Age
30-05-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Both Israel and Palestine have deep ties to the land
To submit a letter to The Age, email letters@ Please include your home address and telephone number. No attachments, please include your letter in the body of the email. See here for our rules and tips on getting your letter published. I attended a talk this week in St Kilda by peace activists Gershon Baskin, an Israeli Jew, and Samer Sinijlawi, a Palestinian living in East Jerusalem. Both argued it was essential for peace that there was an end to 'competition of belonging', replaced by mutual recognition that both peoples had a past tied to the same land. They outlined how most Palestinians and Israeli Jews long for peace, but for 25 years, extremists on each side had given the other the message that they did not want to live in peace. I was reminded of the words of the Holocaust survivor Edith Eger, 'I also want to say that there is no hierarchy of suffering. There's nothing that makes my pain worse or better than yours, no graph on which we can plot the relative importance of one sorrow versus another.' Samer and Gershon ended by encouraging Australians to urge our government to recognise a Palestinian state as the next step towards peace. Mark Zirnsak, Senior Social Justice Advocate, Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of Victoria and Tasmania We must search our consciences Nicola Redhouse's search for moral clarity and determination is something that we all must emulate (″ When Israel acts shamefully, we Jews must be willing to be ashamed of it ″, 30/5). Day by day the casualties mount in Gaza and the Israeli justification of self-defence and elimination of Hamas becomes ever less believable. This is a war of extermination and we must all search our consciences for the strength to speak out against it. Lorel Thomas, Blackburn South Going forward side by side Feeling paralysingly helpless by the sufferings across Gaza and in other world places, on reading Nicola Redhouse's opinion piece there came a moment of intellectual, moral and spiritual clarity. With a clarion call to her tradition, ″Love that cannot feel shame is not love – it is vanity. Nationalism that cannot feel shame is not love of country; it is mere jingoism″, I found the boundaries shift. She states Judaism ″has never required uniformity of judgment, but it has required a reverence of truth″. With eyes to see, and hearts to feel the reverence of truth of overwhelming evils and suffering, we can still feel love of identity and nation, while we hold our heads in shame, as we rise to work side by side for the shalom, the salem, the intrinsic wellbeing for all precious life and land. Reverend Sally Apokis, South Melbourne Hamas is the intractable obstacle Rabbi Daniel Rabin (' Israel is painted as the villain ', 30/5) is correct about the terrorist instigator, Hamas. Unfortunately Hamas is being written out of the narrative and all blame is falling on Israel. Hamas says it wants a Palestinian state. Very commendable but it also wants the elimination of Israel. Until recently Israel championed and worked for a two-state solution, but its right-wing government no longer supports this ideal. How can one support a solution in which the other side denies your right to exist? Les Aisen, Elsternwick THE FORUM Senseless omission A dearth of safe refuge for women and children escaping family violence is the single greatest factor for why women stay in abusive relationships (' New high-security shelters for women in crisis to sit empty during family violence epidemic ', 29/5). That the May state budget omitted $3.9million in operational funding for high-security units designed to shelter women at high risk of death by family violence (or the $9.6million in ongoing funding requested by Safe Steps), is senseless. Dr Anne Summers in 2022 stated that for many women experiencing family violence (who are simultaneously trying to protect their children), ″the choice: violence or poverty″, is the stark reality, including homelessness (ie couch surfing, sleeping in their car). The state government allocating $727 million for 1000 new prison beds and 88 youth justice beds – 'when money spent on services for child family violence victims' could break the cycle of children exposed to family violence 'using violence in their relationships later in life', is a false economy and short-term thinking. Whereas breaking the complex intergenerational cycle of family violence requires long-term strategic thinking, planning, evaluation and government investment. Jelena Rosic, Mornington
