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Experienced Mideast negotiators break down how Gaza peace deal came together · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: For more on today's events, we turned to two people
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  Speaker 1: with extensive experience trying to negotiate peace between the Israelis
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  Speaker 1: and Palestinians. Dennis Ross played leading roles in the Middle
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  Speaker 1: East peace process for both Democratic and Republican administrations. He's
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  Speaker 1: now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, that's
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  Speaker 1: the Washington think tank. And Rob Malley had high level
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  Speaker 1: positions on the National Security Council staff in the Clinton,
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  Speaker 1: Obama and Biden administrations. He's now senior fellow at Yale University. Gentlemen,
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  Speaker 1: welcome to you both, and thank you for joining us.
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  Speaker 1: Before we get to what comes next, I want to
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  Speaker 1: just put to each of you to answer briefly on
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  Speaker 1: how we got here. Rob start us off here. Why
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  Speaker 1: do you think this president now was able to get
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  Speaker 1: done what his predecessor was not?
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  Speaker 2: Well? First, I mean he put together a peace plan
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  Speaker 2: which is an iceore.
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  Speaker 3: I mean it demands a torment for the Palestinians for
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  Speaker 3: what happened under the massacre of October seven. That doesn't
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  Speaker 3: demand a torment for what Israel's barbaric war that followed.
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  Speaker 3: It is, you know, it is calls for Gaza's de radicalization,
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  Speaker 3: but not for Israel's It micromanages the future of the
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  Speaker 3: Palestine self governance. It doesn't say anything about the future
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  Speaker 3: of Visiel's occupation. It's riddled with ambiguities. And yet for
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  Speaker 3: all that, despite all that, it's a major achievement by
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  Speaker 3: the president, And it was achieved again despite all the
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  Speaker 3: criticism that I just leveled, because he adopted a form
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  Speaker 3: of unconventional politics where he just exercised raw power, was
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  Speaker 3: prepared to break convention.
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  Speaker 2: He spoke to hamas he put pressure on Israel.
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  Speaker 3: He also gave guarantees to both sides, and it was
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  Speaker 3: a form of politics that his predecessor simply not able
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  Speaker 3: or willing to exert.
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  Speaker 1: Dennis Ross, do you agree with that in this case,
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  Speaker 1: Rob is saying that the man himself was more important
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  Speaker 1: than the plan.
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  Speaker 4: Well, I think yes, I generally agree with Rob said.
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  Speaker 4: I would put it a little differently. President Trump exercises leverage.
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  Speaker 4: Leverage takes two forms. One is incentives and inducements and
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  Speaker 4: the other is penalties and consequences. What he put himself
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  Speaker 4: in a position where the Prime Minister of Israel could
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  Speaker 4: not say no to him. But he also used the
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  Speaker 4: Arabs in a way that President Biden couldn't. He put
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  Speaker 4: them in a position where basically they were also willing
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  Speaker 4: to be responsive to him, and they were not prepared
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  Speaker 4: to say no to him. President Biden wasn't in a
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  Speaker 4: position to basically convince Bibi not to say no to him.
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  Speaker 4: And one of the reasons that was the case is
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  Speaker 4: because Bibi always had the Republicans that he could use
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  Speaker 4: against the president. So there was a context that was different.
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  Speaker 4: But he was prepared to use coercion and leverage in
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  Speaker 4: a way that went beyond what the democratic president or
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  Speaker 4: democratic administration was prepared to do.
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  Speaker 1: Rob Bally, do you feel that the previous government that
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  Speaker 1: under President Biden didn't have leverage that it didn't use
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  Speaker 1: or is it also true that President Trump just had
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  Speaker 1: different circumstances that offered him more leverage. Right, Israel had
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  Speaker 1: already met a number of its goal Hamas was degraded,
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  Speaker 1: They killed Hesbola leaders in Lebanon, they carried out joint
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  Speaker 1: US strikes against Iran. Were the conditions more ripe for
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  Speaker 1: a deal?
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  Speaker 2: I think both statements are true.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, the conditions were more ripe for a deal for
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  Speaker 3: all the reasons you gave, and some of the reasons
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  Speaker 3: that Dennis gave. But it's also true that the Biden administration,
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  Speaker 3: and this is something that Biden administration officials are going
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  Speaker 3: to have to face and have to account for, did
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  Speaker 3: not exercise the leverage that they possessed. They had huge
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  Speaker 3: leverage with Israel. President Biden was extremely popular with Israeli
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  Speaker 3: public right after October seventh, so he had that leverage
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  Speaker 3: political leverage, and of course they had the leverage of
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  Speaker 3: the provision of weapons. You can't say that you're working
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  Speaker 3: tirelessly for ceasefire and continue to provide the weapons then
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  Speaker 3: ensure that the fire continues.
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  Speaker 2: That is simply inconsistent.
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  Speaker 3: So yes, they have the kind of leverage that, had
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  Speaker 3: they wanted to, they could have called Prime Minister Antennaial out,
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  Speaker 3: which they didn't want to do. They didn't want to
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  Speaker 3: take tough votes at the Security Council, and most of all,
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  Speaker 3: they didn't want to withhold or condition the provision of weapons.
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  Speaker 3: Again that I agree that than Trump faced more favorable circumstances,
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  Speaker 3: but there's a lot of levers that the Body administration
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  Speaker 3: had and they simply refused to exercise.
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  Speaker 1: Dennis Rosser is also this approach by Steve Whitkoff, Jared
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  Speaker 1: Kushner to reportedly meet directly with Ramas to make the
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  Speaker 1: case and make clear to them that President Trump wants
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  Speaker 1: peace here, to get Turkey and Egypt and cuther to
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  Speaker 1: apply more pressure. How different is that from previous efforts,
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  Speaker 1: and does that in any way looking forward, keep Ramas
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  Speaker 1: from breaking the ceasefire? Somehow put Trump as a guaranteur.
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  Speaker 4: Well, it's an interesting point because historically no administration had
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  Speaker 4: been willing to meet with Amas because they didn't want
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  Speaker 4: to legitimize them, They didn't want to undercut the Palistinian authority,
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  Speaker 4: and they didn't want to make a mass the representative
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  Speaker 4: of the Palestinians. This administration did not feel constrained that way,
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  Speaker 4: and so they approached Amas directly at the end. But
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  Speaker 4: I'm not sure that was ultimately the key. I think
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  Speaker 4: the real key here on the Arab side and also
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  Speaker 4: the Muslims, was being prepared to use the relationship with Turkey.
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  Speaker 4: President aired one use the countries use the Egyptians make
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  Speaker 4: it clear to them how much they had to gain
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  Speaker 4: with President Trump, but also had they had to lose
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  Speaker 4: if they weren't helpful. All of them decided it was
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  Speaker 4: in their interests to show President Trump how successful they
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  Speaker 4: could be and why he had a stake in them.
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  Speaker 4: The Biden administration never quite did that. And to be
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  Speaker 4: fair on the issue of the circumstances, the fact is
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  Speaker 4: those circumstances.
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  Speaker 5: In terms of what Israel had done to Grisbela, that
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  Speaker 5: was done a year ago, so many of the circumstances
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  Speaker 5: were there for some time. Obviously, what happened in June
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  Speaker 5: with Iran also affected things, but the reality is the
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  Speaker 5: real weakening of the proxy network had taken place before that.
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  Speaker 1: Rob Mally, take a look at how the President was
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  Speaker 1: speaking about this deal today with a major summit right
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  Speaker 1: all the world's leaders gathered behind him, and he's using
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  Speaker 1: language talking about the end of the war, talking about
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  Speaker 1: a new beginning. Is he right?
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  Speaker 3: I mean, at the end of the war in Gaza
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  Speaker 3: to that, if you achieve that again, that's a momentous achievement.
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  Speaker 3: I think beyond that, it's typical Trump hyperbole. This is
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  Speaker 3: not the end of the conflict, not even the end
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  Speaker 3: of the conflict in Gaza, let alone the end of
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  Speaker 3: the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. I think the lesson
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  Speaker 3: here is that it's going to take a president, whether
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  Speaker 3: it's President Trump or future president, to use an unconventional
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  Speaker 3: form of politics, of politics that is immune from the
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  Speaker 3: laws of political gravity in the US, and as prepared
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  Speaker 3: to take steps that may not be popular, that may
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  Speaker 3: not be traditional, that may not be typical. But for example,
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  Speaker 3: engaging with Hamas, that is something that has then said
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  Speaker 3: Prior presidents didn't want to do.
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  Speaker 2: But it was simply a recognition of reality.
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  Speaker 3: How do you make peace in Gaza if you don't
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  Speaker 3: talk to the party that holds the key to war
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  Speaker 3: and peace.
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  Speaker 2: It may not be pretty, but it's essential. President Trump
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  Speaker 2: did that.
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  Speaker 3: I would be far from addicting now that we're on
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  Speaker 3: the verge on the cusp of his ready palatinie piece.
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  Speaker 3: One step at a time, I think for Gazans today
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  Speaker 3: this is you know, they're going from an utter hell
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  Speaker 3: ter mere nightmare, and that's progress for them. We've seen
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  Speaker 3: the joy of the family that are getting the hostages
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  Speaker 3: of Palestinium detainees who are back. We're hoping that we
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  Speaker 3: Manitorn eight is going to go back into Gaza again.
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  Speaker 3: That's achievement enough. I think it's going to take some
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  Speaker 3: time to get to the next phase. Let alone is
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  Speaker 3: ready palatinian piece.
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  Speaker 1: Dennis Ross. In the minute or so we have left,
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  Speaker 1: what are you watching in the days weeks ahead to
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  Speaker 1: see if this ceasefire does hold?
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  Speaker 4: He is going to be President Trump's direct involvement, his
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  Speaker 4: team's direct involvement, filling out that team with more. You
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  Speaker 4: have twenty points. I think every single point is interpreted
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  Speaker 4: differently by the parties, and the linkage between demilitarization and
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  Speaker 4: withdrawal is a key one.
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  Speaker 2: How is it defined?
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  Speaker 4: Who's going to carry it out?
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  Speaker 1: That's what I'm going to be watching for A big
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  Speaker 1: first step, a big questions. As you both say, ihead
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  Speaker 1: Dennis Ross, Rob Malley, thank you both for your time.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you,