CNN Zakaria’s First Instinct? Don’t Hold Israel Responsible For Destruction In Gaza During Interview With Saudi Arabia Foreign Minister. Focused On Where Money Is Rather Than Where Responsibility Lies
Why Did Fareed Zakaria Of CNN Project First Responsibility For Reconstructing Gaza Onto The “Immense Wealth” Of Muslim Nations Rather Than Ask The Minister Of Foreign Affairs Of Saudi Arabia If He Believed The State Of Israel Should Pay For The Damages It Has Inflicted Upon Gaza?
Why Was Mr. Zakaria’s First Instinct To Avoid Holding The Government Of The State Of Israel Responsible For The Destruction Of Gaza?
Mr. Zakaria Was Guilty Of Going Where The Money Is Rather Than Where Responsibility Lies.
State Of Israel Has Approximately US$200 Billion In Foreign Reserves.
Why is it just for the populations of Bahrain (2 million), Egypt (113 million), Iran (89 million), Jordan (11 million), Oman (5 million), Qatar (3 million), Saudi Arabia (37 million), United Arab Emirates (10 million) and other countries pay for what taxpayers in the State of Israel (9 million) were responsible for inflicting upon the 2.3 million residents of Gaza?
The governments of Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates did not instruct their armed forces to destroy infrastructure in Gaza. The government of the State of Israel did.
CNN
Atlanta, Georgia
21 January 2024
Fareed Zakaria GPS (excerpt)
FAREED ZAKARIA: Same question with reconstruction. You know that, you know, that is one of the areas people are hoping that Saudi Arabia will play a large role because of your immense wealth. Is Saudi Arabia willing to finance the reconstruction of Gaza?
FAISAL BIN FARHAN AL-SAUD, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA: There is no point in talking about the reconstruction of Gaza if we're not going to talk about first ending the killing. Again, as long as we're able to find a pathway towards a solution, a resolution, a pathway that means that we're not going to be here again in a year or two, then we can talk about anything. But if we're just re-setting to the status quo before October 7th, in a way that sets us up for another round of this as we have seen in the past. We're not interested in that conversation.
From The Wall Street Journal: An analysis by the Shelter Cluster, a coalition of aid groups led by the Norwegian Refugee Council, concluded that after the current war, it will take at least a year just to clear the rubble, a task complicated by having to safely remove unexploded ordnance. Rebuilding the housing will take seven to 10 years, if financing is available, the group said. It will cost some $3.5 billion, it estimates, not including the cost of providing temporary accommodation.
United States Department of State
Washington DC
13 November 2023
QUESTION: Yeah, but saying, oh, well, once this is all over, you can go back home – but there isn’t anything that’s going to be left for them to go back to.
MR MATTHEW MILLER: Yeah – obviously, Gaza is the location of a – an intense military campaign. When it’s over, we want to see reconstruction of Gaza.
QUESTION: All right. Paid for by?
MR MILLER: We will have conversations with partners in the region about that very question.
QUESTION: Including —
MR MILLER: I think it’s a little – I think it’s a little too early to say. We’re in the middle of the conflict right now. We’re just having – just start having conversations.
QUESTION: Fair – fair enough. But I mean, it’s not – okay, but it is not just as easy as saying, oh, okay, well, you’re being told to move south for your own protection, but after – but after that threat is over, then you can go back when you have nothing to go back to – and no one is going to be stepping up to pay for the reconstruction.”
The White House
Washington DC
23 January 2024
Q Thank you. Israel has said that it is going to build a buffer zone. It appears to already be demolishing structures inside Gaza along its borders, despite the U.S. position that Gaza’s territory should not be reduced. Does the administration object to this plan? And if the Israelis are moving forward anyway, then what is the administration doing about it?
MR. JOHN KIRBY: I'll let the Israelis speak to this idea. Nothing has changed about our view, Sabrina. We do not want to see the territory of Gaza reduced in any way. We won't support that.
Q And you -- the administration has communicated that directly to the Israelis, that they shouldn't create these buffer zones?
MR. KIRBY: I won’t talk about our diplomatic conversations. We have been very clear and consistent, both in private and publicly, that we do not want to see the territory of Gaza reduced in any way.
Links To Related Analyses
Related Article
Christian Science Monitor
Boston, Massachusetts
22 December 2023
A plan for Gaza’s future is taking shape. Obstacles loom.
By Taylor Luck Special correspondent and Fatima AbdulKarim Special contributor
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates; AMMAN, Jordan; and RAMALLAH, West Bank
A massive postwar reconstruction plan is taking shape for the besieged Gaza Strip, if only the combatants and local politics don’t stand in the way. Backed by Gulf billions and spurred by public pressure, the plan is being advanced by Arab states, the United States, and the European Union. It aims to transform life for the Palestinians and move them closer to statehood, with new support from the Palestinian Authority.
Moves are accelerating after the PA agreed this week to a proposal by the U.S., the EU, Arab Gulf states, Egypt, and Jordan for a “day-after” scenario. The plan seeks to rebuild the coastal strip, unite and overhaul Palestinian governance, and create a Palestinian security force in Gaza to ensure Palestinian and Israeli security. The trauma of war is catalyzing an Arab, U.S., and European push for a “day-after” plan for Gaza. It faces challenges. How they are met may be the difference between reconstruction and peace, and a security vacuum and chaos.
Ongoing talks in Gulf capitals, Amman, and Ramallah are closing in on tough questions, including who should make up the new Palestinian government, and how to rebuild a territory where practically all infrastructure is destroyed. Yet outstanding challenges continue to stump Arab and Western diplomats from three sources: a far-right Israeli government that is rejecting a role for the PA in Gaza’s governance, a militant Hamas that is far from having been defeated or disarmed by the war that broke out Oct. 7, and internal Palestinian divisions. Observers say how these challenges are tackled may be the difference between postwar reconstruction and peace, and a security vacuum and chaos.
A strip. A plan.
Key to the plan is what Arab diplomats describe as a “rapid” reconstruction and humanitarian campaign to alleviate the suffering of Gaza Palestinians, create housing, and restore livelihoods. Under the plan, Gulf states have set an initial budget of $3 billion annually for a 10-year period, with the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar as the three largest donors, according to a Gulf official who requested anonymity. The priority of the rapid part of the rebuild will be southern Gaza, where 1 million internally displaced Palestinians have been pushed by the Israeli military. The effort there will be to build housing, schools, hospitals, and water and energy infrastructure, according to those close to discussions. A parallel, long-term rebuild will be the “re-imagining” of northern Gaza and Gaza City, where the bulk of the population once lived, over a 10-to-15-year period, according to a Gulf diplomat and confirmed by a European diplomat. In the wake of a united Arab refusal to put “boots on the ground” in Gaza right after an Israeli withdrawal, a compromise has been struck by Arab states, the Biden administration, and the PA to police a post-Hamas Gaza with a grouping of former PA security officers in Gaza. Those officers were forced into retirement following Hamas’ seizure of the strip in 2007.
Gaza governance?
The flow of billions of dollars into Gaza hinges on who, precisely, will govern the strip. During U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan’s visit to Ramallah Saturday, the PA agreed with the European-American-Arab plan to form a technocratic unity government under a “revamped and revitalized” PA to govern both Gaza and the West Bank. Under the verbally agreed-upon plan, octogenarian PA President Mahmoud Abbas would serve as a ceremonial figurehead for a transitional period, with the unity government providing services, running day-to-day affairs, and overseeing reconstruction. Yet talks are snagging over the details. Mr. Abbas’ inner circle wants the unity government stacked with loyalists and people from the West Bank. The U.S. and Arab powers, diplomats say, are doubling down, insisting the new government be staffed equally with Palestinians from Gaza and from the West Bank, all apolitical technocrats and civil society members. “Capable Palestinian technocrats ... don’t receive the attention they deserve,” Mohammed Baharoon, director of the Dubai-based B’huth think tank, says of a technocratic government’s merits.
European, British, and Gulf diplomats’ preference, according to multiple sources, is for the revamped PA to include Palestinian diaspora lawyers, scientists, human rights activists, and business leaders from the West. They would be imbued with a belief in good governance, and free of the bitter divisions and petty rivalries that mark Palestinian politics today. Meanwhile, the PA is pushing for an international peace conference setting a timeline for a Palestinian state as a condition for promoting the post-Hamas governance plan – a political horizon that would help it sell the initiative to other factions and the public.
“What is missing [in the plan] is a political solution,” says Bassam Salhi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee and Abbas ally. “We want a comprehensive vision with the overall end goal of a political resolution, the end of the occupation and recognition of a Palestinian state within 1967 borders.” But there are also outstanding concerns among Arab diplomats, Europeans, and some Palestinian factions over whether Mr. Abbas and his inner circle, who have restricted freedoms, cracked down on dissent, siphoned millions, disenfranchised most Palestinians, and lost public support, can truly reform and facilitate a new era in Palestinian governance. Noting Mr. Abbas’ track record, the Fatah Democratic Reform Bloc, a PLO faction that retains extensive humanitarian and civil society networks in Gaza and West Bank refugee camps, is insisting on a firm date for legislative and presidential elections to select new leadership as part of the day-after arrangements. “No more Abbas games,” Dimitri Diliani, the Reform Bloc spokesperson, says of previous empty reform promises, rejecting “any proposal that imposes Israeli or American conditions on who governs the Palestinian people.” One Gulf official described ongoing contentious talks with rival Palestinian factions over a list of names for the new government as “surprisingly difficult” and “a headache.”
“The Palestinian Authority is deeply flawed, but they are the only realistic option we have as a moderate governing entity,” says the official, who was not authorized to speak to the press. “We have to hold them to account to make sure this works.”
Israeli opposition
Yet the day-after plan’s most significant challenge may come from Israel. As talks progress, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been increasingly vocal about his refusal of a PA role in Gaza, saying recently, “I will not allow Israel to repeat the mistake of Oslo,” the peace accords that established the authority. On Sunday Mr. Netanyahu reiterated that he would thwart efforts to revive the two-state solution, saying he is “proud of the fact that I prevented the emergence of a Palestinian state.”
Arab states reportedly are attempting to use Gulf funding for reconstruction as leverage to push Israel to accept a PA role in a postwar Gaza, sending a message through their envoys to Israel and Washington: No Palestinian Authority, no funds for Gaza. And there are indications Israel may be softening its stance. Tzachi Hanegbi, head of Israel’s National Security Council, voiced in an op-ed Thursday on a Saudi-owned news site a willingness to accept a Palestinian role in Gaza, but that it “will require a fundamental reform of the Palestinian Authority.”
Hamas and public opinion
Another major hurdle is Hamas and Palestinians who have been excluded from the process. As diplomats push to revive the PA, a recent poll conducted by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research reveals a Palestinian public turning its back on the authority and supporting Hamas. When asked about their preference for postwar rule in Gaza, fewer than 1% of Palestinian respondents said they preferred a unity government returning to Gaza under the supervision of Mr. Abbas, 16% preferred a national unity government without Mr. Abbas, and 7% preferred the PA to return to Gaza as is.
The majority, 60%, preferred Hamas to govern Gaza, but support was split along regional lines: Seventy percent of West Bank residents preferred Hamas rule in Gaza, compared with 38% of Gaza residents, who have lived under Hamas and preferred the PA’s return instead. Hamas’ popularity has tripled among beleaguered West Bank Palestinians since Oct. 7 from 12% three months ago to 44% currently. Meanwhile, nearly 60% of Palestinians called for the PA to be dissolved, according to the poll. It’s the first time a majority of Palestinians have called for its disbanding.
“Right now, anything that Abbas puts his hand on is going to be immediately seen as suspect by Palestinians,” says Khalil Shikaki, analyst, pollster, and director of the Ramallah-based research center. “To have legitimacy, any future arrangements for Gaza must have the widest support of Palestinians rather than something that the president or his inner circle would be authorizing.” Bottom of Form
Palestinian analysts agree that Hamas’ approval for any future technocratic government will be crucial to avoid the militant movement acting as a spoiler. The PA is exploring unofficial talks with Hamas in Turkey, offering seats in the PLO if it gives up armed resistance. Yet Gulf states, like the U.S., rule out any role for Hamas in a future Gaza as a “nonstarter” hurting efforts to push Israel to accept Palestinian governance in the strip.
CNN
Atlanta, Georgia
21 January 2024
Fareed Zakaria GPS (excerpt)
ZAKARIA: In the midst of the Gaza war these days, Saudi Arabia, the leading Arab state, finds itself in a quandary. On the one hand it is of course naturally suspicious of its rival Iran. On the other hand it supports the Palestinian cause and it does not yet have relations with Israel. I spoke with Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Faisal bin Farhan Al- Saud, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos.
AL-SAUD: Fareed, unfortunately to what we're seeing is the Israelis are crushing Gaza. They are crushing the civilian population of Gaza. This is completely unnecessary. It's completely unacceptable and has to stop. We have to find a way to stop the killing of civilians, we have to find a way to allow for humanitarian access.
ZAKARIA: Do you have -- you have had indirect contacts with Israel over the years. I'm wondering when you put this message out, which you have been putting out very consistently, are you getting any signs from the Israelis that things are going to change soon?
AL-SAUD: I mean, what we see certainly in the media, what we see on the ground, unfortunately, is not indicative of a change. You know, what's most disturbing is I don't see any real strategic direction, any real clear strategy. And this is very, very dangerous. The innocent civilians of Gaza are paying the price. But it's not just the civilians of Gaza, it is the stability of the region. We are seeing extraordinary levels of anger and upset because of the images of these civilians being killed. And so we need to find a way to stop the fighting. We need to find a way to address these issues through dialogue, through a political process. That's the priority.
ZAKARIA: What do you think is the most plausible next step? Would Saudi Arabia be willing to be part of an Arab force that goes into to replace the Israelis and stabilize Gaza?
AL-SAUD: I think what we need to focus on is solution for the Palestinian issue. Not just for Gaza. I think all of the Arab states have indicated that they are willing to talk about a resolution or a solution that includes how we manage the situation in Gaza as long as it's part of a bigger picture, and what we feel is necessary is some form of credible, irreversible path to Palestinian state. That will give legitimacy to any Arab country and, you know, us as a collective group addressing the issue holistically including of course Gaza and the government of Gaza.
ZAKARIA: So you're not ruling out the possibility of Saudi troops going in?
AL-SAUD: Saudi troops, I think that's something, you know, hypothetical it's hard to address and Arab troops even I don't think what type of force on the ground is the issue. It's because if we offer real hope to the Palestinians, I think it will be very much within the capacity of the Palestinian people, the Palestinian Authority, to take that responsibility.
ZAKARIA: Same question with reconstruction. You know that, you know, that is one of the areas people are hoping that Saudi Arabia will play a large role because of your immense wealth. Is Saudi Arabia willing to finance the reconstruction of Gaza?
AL-SAUD: There is no point in talking about the reconstruction of Gaza if we're not going to talk about first ending the killing. Again, as long as we're able to find a pathway towards a solution, a resolution, a pathway that means that we're not going to be here again in a year or two, then we can talk about anything. But if we're just re-setting to the status quo before October 7th, in a way that sets us up for another round of this as we have seen in the past. We're not interested in that conversation.
Screenshot From “Fareed Zakaria GPS” On CNN