Israel has shown that it prefers land to peace, professor Avi told Karan Thapar.

https://thewire.in/world/full-text-israel-palestine-karan-thapar-avi-shlaim

"On October 25, Karan Thapar spoke to Avi Shlaim, emeritus professor of international relations, St. Antony’s College, Oxford. Shlaim, the acclaimed author of Israel and Palestine: Reappraisals, Revisions Refutations and The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World, spoke about the history of the conflict and the aftermath of the October 7 attack by Hamas.

In the interview, they discuss various issues and some statements by Avi Shlaim are highlighted below.

‘Land grabbing and peacemaking don’t go together, it’s one or the other, and by constantly expanding settlements, Israel showed that it prefers land to peace.’

‘Israel by its actions has shown that it is not interested in having a Palestinian partner for peace because it wants to maintain its control over the territory.’

‘Israel refuses to accept Hamas as a negotiating partner. Israel’s position is that Hamas is a terrorist organisation – pure and simple. It will never negotiate with it.’

‘Benjamin Netanyahu’s policy has been to let Hamas rule the Gaza Strip, but to contain the Gaza Strip, and this policy collapsed, because Gaza could not be contained.’

‘What Israel refuses to do is to accept that Hamas represents a serious body of Palestinians, and that you cannot reach any peace agreement with the Palestinians that excludes Hamas. So, the sensible thing for Israel to do and the other European powers to do is to recognise Hamas and to negotiate with Hamas for a political settlement of the conflict.’

‘This is a political conflict between the two sides, but Israel only uses brute military force to suppress the Palestinians on the West Bank and in Gaza, and nothing but brute military force.’

‘What we are witnessing today, day after day, in Gaza is Israel moving towards ethnic cleansing of the population and genocide.’

‘The West also bears a part of the responsibility for the present and past, because of its massive support for Israel, its supply of arms to Israel, and its diplomatic protection of Israel.’

‘My duty as a public intellectual, and as a student of this conflict, is to give the public… an account of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which is as truthful as possible, as honest as possible, and as fair-minded as possible.’

Below is a transcript of the full interview, edited lightly for style, clarity and syntax."

On Saturday, October 28, 2023 at 1:14:13 PM UTC, ltlee1 wrote:
> Israel has shown that it prefers land to peace, professor Avi told Karan Thapar.
>
> https://thewire.in/world/full-text-israel-palestine-karan-thapar-avi-shlaim
>
> "On October 25, Karan Thapar spoke to Avi Shlaim, emeritus professor of international relations, St. Antony’s College, Oxford. Shlaim, the acclaimed author of Israel and Palestine: Reappraisals, Revisions Refutations and The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World, spoke about the history of the conflict and the aftermath of the October 7 attack by Hamas.
>
> In the interview, they discuss various issues and some statements by Avi Shlaim are highlighted below.
>
> ‘Land grabbing and peacemaking don’t go together, it’s one or the other, and by constantly expanding settlements, Israel showed that it prefers land to peace.’
>
> ‘Israel by its actions has shown that it is not interested in having a Palestinian partner for peace because it wants to maintain its control over the territory.’
>
> ‘Israel refuses to accept Hamas as a negotiating partner. Israel’s position is that Hamas is a terrorist organisation – pure and simple. It will never negotiate with it.’
>
> ‘Benjamin Netanyahu’s policy has been to let Hamas rule the Gaza Strip, but to contain the Gaza Strip, and this policy collapsed, because Gaza could not be contained.’
>
> ‘What Israel refuses to do is to accept that Hamas represents a serious body of Palestinians, and that you cannot reach any peace agreement with the Palestinians that excludes Hamas. So, the sensible thing for Israel to do and the other European powers to do is to recognise Hamas and to negotiate with Hamas for a political settlement of the conflict.’
>
> ‘This is a political conflict between the two sides, but Israel only uses brute military force to suppress the Palestinians on the West Bank and in Gaza, and nothing but brute military force.’
>
> ‘What we are witnessing today, day after day, in Gaza is Israel moving towards ethnic cleansing of the population and genocide.’
>
> ‘The West also bears a part of the responsibility for the present and past, because of its massive support for Israel, its supply of arms to Israel, and its diplomatic protection of Israel.’
>
> ‘My duty as a public intellectual, and as a student of this conflict, is to give the public… an account of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which is as truthful as possible, as honest as possible, and as fair-minded as possible.’
>
> Below is a transcript of the full interview, edited lightly for style, clarity and syntax."

"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would seek to assume overall responsibility for security in Gaza, in an
early indication that Israel plans to occupy the strip after the war, raising more questions about its exit strategy.

“I think Israel for an indefinite period will have the overall security responsibility, because we’ve seen what happens when we
don’t have it,” Netanyahu said on ABC News overnight. “When we don’t have that security responsibility, what we have is the
eruption of Hamas terror on a scale that we couldn’t imagine.”

Since the Hamas terrorist attacks of Oct. 7 that sparked the war, Israeli officials have said little about their long-term plans for
Gaza besides destroying the ability of the militant group to rule there."

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/netanyahu-says-israel-will-control-gaza-security-indefinitely-5979ac93?page=1