Oct 17, 2023 | Sky's Mark Austin discusses the current crisis between Israel and Hamas with the Palestinian politician and activist Hanan Ashrawi. She told him it would be impossible to wipe out Hamas in Gaza as the group was not solely a military organisation. She was speaking from the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the West Bank.
Israel will hold new elections after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a coalition government in six weeks of negotiations following the April 9 election. This marks the first time in Israeli history a prime minister-designate has failed to form a coalition government. The news comes as the United States is continuing to promote a controversial Middle East peace plan drawn up by President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is in Israel today along with special envoy Jason Greenblatt. But the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that the political crisis in Israel could kill the U.S. plan, which will be partially unveiled at a conference in Bahrain next month. Palestinian officials have vowed to boycott the conference and dismissed any attempts to tackle peace talks in the region without addressing human rights and the Israeli occupation. We speak with longtime Palestinian diplomat Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee. The United States recently denied Ashrawi a visa to enter the country.
The city of Jerusalem has its historical, religious and political significance, and is a prominent symbol for the Palestinian cause, or what is left of it. The US, which undertook the role of peace broker between Israelis and Palestinians for over two decades, has become the first country in the world to recognise the whole of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Hanan Ashrawi, executive committee member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, told Al Jazeera why she believes Trump's move will allow Israel to "annex" Jerusalem from the Palestinians.
