on al jazeera. mohammed: israel says it will step up its raids against palestinians in the occupied west bank, including east jerusalem. israeli forces have killed dozens of palestinians this year but is diplomacy enough? what needs to be done to stop the bloodshed? this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program. for months, israeli forces have

been conducting nightly rage across -- nightly rates across the occupied west bank. this has led to repeated confrontations and the deaths of more than 45 palestinians and at least 11 israeli so far this year. israel says the military raids are meant to stop attacks against israelis, but palestinians view it as another example of its violent occupation. on sunday, prime minister benjamin netanyahu announced its government would step up those nightly rates. we will get to our guests in a moment. first this report from west jerusalem. reporter: don raids is how they have been operating recently. israeli forces moving fast while palestinians sleep. in the last few weeks, this has become a daily routine and occupied east jerusalem and the rest of the occupied west bank. this time, they are seizing the family home of a palestinian. the father of three sent his car into a settlement and three

israelis were killed, including two sibling children. on sunday, the weekly cabinet meeting turned its attention to the frequency of these attacks, three in just two weeks. carried out by young palestinians, including a 13-year-old, all from occupied east jerusalem and all operating alone. so the new israeli government wants to send a strong message. >> the appropriate answer to terror is to strike hard before it can take root in our country. accordingly, the cabinet is meeting today to repair broader action against those carrying out terrorism and those in east jerusalem and samaria pipe permit -- by preventing as much as possible. reporter: but family and friends of the attackers say they are being targeted and what they describe as collective punishment through mass arrests, raids and emotions of homes. dozens of palestinians have been killed by israeli forces this year alone.

israel's most right-wing government has not been in power for long, but it is already facing major hurdles. apart from the palestinian issue, it is facing accusations of trying to undermine the judiciary and move the country away from democracy. saturdays are the biggest nationwide antigovernment protest in weeks. more than 145,000 people stood in cold weather in the first of several knesset votes to curb judicial powers. some have called for an end to the ruling coalition, including ministers with convictions ranging from racism to the prime minister himself, who is on trial for corruption. benjamin netanyahu has dismissed these protests as a refusal to accept the last election results. mohammed: the u.s. secretary of state, antony blinken, was in

jerusalem last month recalled for urgent steps to restore calm between the two sides. >> we continue to believe the best way to achieve it is through preserving and realizing the division of two states. as i said to the prime minister, anything that moves us away from that vision is, in our judgment, ditch mental to israel's long-term security and its long-term identity as a jewish and democratic state. mohammed: let's go ahead and bring in our guests. they are joining us from the u.s. in washington dc, a senior fellow at the washington institute for near east policy, a former senior advisor to the state department. in brooklyn new york, a political director at the jewish voice for peace action. in arlington virginia, a senior fellow at the middle east institute and the author of wind spot, america and the palestinians. a warm welcome to you all. let me start with you, david. during his visit last month, the

u.s. secretary of state gus the importance of a two state solution with top israeli and palestinian officials. this is nothing new. we hear this rhetoric from u.s. administrations all the time. many analysts have said the biden administration does not really want to engage in this conflict any longer. what would the u.s. have to do to actually move the needle on this front? guest: the u.s. obviously does want to engage with this conflict and secretary blinken's visit was one sign of that along with the visits in the same week of national security advisor jake sullivan and cia director bill burns. so i would start by taking strong issue with the idea the biden administration has given up on this conflict or for some reason does not want to deal with anymore. the second point, to answer your question more directly, what the u.s. would have to do is to have

to work with both sides, with all sides, actually, including outside arab partners, to defuse tensions rather than aggravate them. actions that any side would take, including incendiary rhetoric or attempts to change the status quo in some fundamental way while efforts continue at lower levels to reach conditions that would allow for pickled progress on this issue. -- for political progress on this issue. mohammed: the u.s. government continues to reiterate the importance of a two state solution. from your point of view, is this realistic at this point? there are a lot of people who believe the two state solution is essentially dead and there's no way to revive it. what is your take? guest: i think the short answer is no. going back to the initial

question about the administration and its level of seriousness, i think it is pretty clear this administration does not want to engage in this issue on the palestinian front. certainly it has a very deep relationship with israel and its engagement with israel is at extraordinarily high levels. the three visits we saw from senior u.s. officials in the last couple of weeks were preplanned. they were not in response to the violence on the ground. they were already planned and when the administration talks about a two state solution, when you have the government in israel that is literally committed to dismantling the two state solution from including the palestinian authority in some cases, a number of ministers expressed the desire to dismantle the palestinian authority itself.

you have those on the government who are extreme on many levels, but who openly favor annexation of the west bank. this is the most right-wing government in israel's history. it is bizarre to talk about a two state solution, not only because you have this extreme government in place that is doing its utmost to destroy a two state solution, but also because of the violence on the ground. it's a little bit like standing in front of a burning building and saying i wholly support fire safety and smoke alarms. mohammed: i saw you nodding along to some of that -- it looks like you wanted to jump in? guest: i agree. i think it's simply true that what the biden administration has been saying about what it wants in terms of a two state solution simply does not match with what they are doing.

and i think when you look at the situation on the ground and listen to what palestinians are saying about life under apartheid and occupation, it becomes preclear the likelihood of a two state solution, -- it becomes pretty clear the likelihood of a two state solution under this current government looks dead. it's hard to imagine how that could come forward. i think specifically, that thing we should focus on and highlight is the hypocrisy of the biden administration in that they continue to say this is what they want, this is all they care about, this is what they are pushing for, a two state solution. but their actions don't lead us there. it is the status quo right now that they are trying to maintain is a horrible, violent status quo. that's the reality of life for palestinians living under israeli apartheid. even just the last month, over 40 palestinians have been killed

by israelis and it's only the beginning of february. this is coming on the tail end of last year which was under a different government that was not israel's most extreme government in history and was supposed to be a more liberal government. that created the deadliest year for palestinians since the early 2000's. we have to reckon with reality when we are talking about what's actually possible. mohammed: let me follow-up with you on one point. talking about the biden administration is one thing but i want to ask specifically about where things stand when it comes to u.s. lawmakers. from your vantage point, do representative's, do senators want the administration to do more to try to resolve this conflict? is there political willpower? guest: that's a great question. but we are seeing out the

beginning of the 118th congress which was sworn in right around the time this extremist far right israeli coalition government came into power, we are seeing there are cracks in the traditional bipartisan, we stand with israel no matter what consensus. you see some senators like senator van hollen or members of the house who are speaking out more and more they are ready to say they are deeply concerned by the actions of the israeli government. however, what we need to do is move past deep concern. it's good to see more and more members of congress speaking out and saying they are worried about what could come down the line from this new government. however, what we really need are four members of congress to realize what is already happening right now is it is already too late, it's already too much and we need not just statements of deep concern but

action and senator van hollen is an example of someone moving forward on pushing for an investigation of the killing of a palestinian-american journalist or you have members of the house like congresswoman rashida to leave, representative aoc, other progressive house members increasingly willing to speak out and say we need actual concrete action, meaning restrictions on u.s. funding, conditions on u.s. funding, that is what we need to be pushing for, actions. while the political will is smaller than it should be, it's growing quickly and will continue to grow the more the israeli government is being extreme in its policies. mohammed: i want to take a step back and look at some of the other things going on. israel's far right cabinet -- they approved nine illegal settler outposts in the occupied west bank. there was a statement saying more housing units are likely to be built in separate existing

illegal settlements. the biden administration opposes the authorization of israeli outposts. they've aired their views against these settlements and the u.s. provides billions of dollars in military aid to israel. does the u.s. government not get offended by the fact israel essentially ignores them on this issue? guest: the question is misguided because this is a conflict between two sides, not just one side and you could ask a similar question about why the administration quote unquote ignores the fact the palestinian authority continues to subsidize terrorism against innocent israeli civilians. you could ask why the biden administration quote unquote ignores the fact that senior members of the palestinian authority and senior members of the five top organization, which mahmoud abbas is the chair, why they continue to call for the

dismantling not just of occupation but of israel. the fact is the biden administration, like every american government and reasonable person is caught between two sides, each one of which has extremists that call for political suicide of the other side. palestinians and the israelis. we need to ask what it is that can be done to get out of this impasse rather than fingers only at one side in this conflict. mohammed: israel says the military rates across the west bank are meant to stop attacks against israelis. palestinians view this as another example of its violent occupation. prime minister netanyahu announced his government is going to step up those nightly rates. how concerned are you that this situation is only going to get worse? guest: all the trendlines are

certainly disturbing. everything looks like it is getting worse. we have heard or seen how the casualty figures, the deaths, especially palestinians, but also israelis, is much higher this year and we are only in february, than it was last year. everything is moving, all the trendlines are negative, in terms of people's rights on the ground, in terms of basic safety and security and in terms of any political outlook remotely resembling a two state solution. on this question of both sides, i think we have to in mind there is no parity between the two sites. israel as an occupying power. israel is the fifth most powerful military in the world and it is enforcing its occupation through violence. occupation is by definition

violent and coercive. it can only be sustained by force of arms. when we see these israeli rates, that is precisely what the daily army raids are about. they are about enforcing a military occupation over a subjugated population that has been living under martial law for 55 years. occasionally, there are bouts of resistance. sometimes that resistance is violent, sometimes it's not. but it is always predicable. when you have an occupation that has to use more and more violence in order to sustain itself. the difference between the israeli side and the palestinian side is not just one of huge power asymmetry -- we talked about extremists -- the differences the extremists are actually in the israeli government. the government of matt buddha

boss is quite ineffective and quite weak but you would be hard-pressed to find a more moderate set of policies and individuals than those who currently reside in ramallah and rule over the palestinian authority. we have to bear in mind these enormous differences. this is one of the key reasons the administration does not want to engage, because it understands that engaging, pushing this process along, necessarily means putting pressure on israel and that is something for to mystic political reasons mainly, but ideological reasons. the biden administration has zero interest in doing. mohammed: we heard the report earlier in the show that pointed out this is israel's most right-wing government. it has not been in power for long but it is already facing a lot of hurdles.

not just about the palestinian issues, it's facing accusations of trying to undermine the judiciary, steering the country away from democracy, what is all this going to mean going forward for potential attempts at resolution of the israeli -palestinian conflict and essentially for the government? guest: what's happening right now is that the mask is falling down. israel has never been a democracy for all the people the government rules over. it has always been a country upholding apartheid, and oppressing palestinians and that has not been a democracy for all the people who live under its government. this current coalition government has basically's that up the process of exposing that and it's terrifying and has

meant increasing violence and will continue to meet increasing violence. what it should mean is the international community, including in the u.s. should be responding in kind. if the israeli government is being very clear about the fact that in reality, there's not really democracy here and any vestiges of pieces of the government that were democratic for jewish-israeli citizens are falling apart and coming away under corruption and attacks on those pieces of the government that were democratic, the u.s. government should be responding in kind. what you always hear not just from the biden administration but any past administration here in the u.s. has been israel is a democratic ally. israel is our most important democratic ally. it has never been true and right now it is blatantly not true. if this government continues down this path, this is the

thing when secretary lincoln visited israel, this was the only thing he wanted to talk about. he wanted to talk about judiciary reforms, concerns that if israel looked undemocratic, it would make it difficult for the biden administration to keep supporting it. it seems pretty clear to anyone paying attention that this government doesn't really care about that. if they continue down this path where they are increasingly exposing themselves and taking off the mask and showing israel is just a violent apartheid regime and not a democratic ally, what should be happening is countries should be responding in kind. the biden administration should respond to israel as it would with a country that is undemocratic and violently oppressing the people who live under its rule and that should mean using the pieces of leverage it has that matters most. for example, the 3.8 billion dollars in military aid we send to that country every single year. mohammed: if there was some way

to arrive -- to revive talks about a two state solution or some form of resolution to try to stop the bloodshed, how much of a role does the u.s. need to play in mediating this and are there other international actors who could play a role? guest: i think other international actors can and are playing a role. the question is are they playing a constructive role or destructive role? countries that support hamas, for example which pledged to destroy israel and never to agree to peace or a two state solution, those people are playing a destructive role. people who support negotiations between the two parties, and i find it ironic that someone who claims to represent an organization calling for peace and justice would only choose

one side of the conflict for violence, people who want to play a constructive role from the outside, whether it's the u.s. government or countries in europe or arab countries, try to get both sides, what ever there governments on both sides to negotiate and defuse tensions rather than employ them. so you do see other elements playing that role in certain aspects of the conflict so that egypt, for example, has played a very important role in trying to restrain hamas from firing rockets at israeli civilians on the others of the border. jordan has played a constructive role trying to point out the

status of the temple mount where jordan is actively involved is being maintained by both sides so far and to warn against any attempts to infringe on that inflamed tension. that's the kind of role i would be looking for rather than people who hurl accusations that only one side or the other and think somehow that's going to help resolve conflict. mohammed: you look like you wanted to respond. guest: i think what we heard is an overly simplistic idea of what peace actually entails and how we actually get to peace. peace and justice go hand in hand. these ideas of how we move forward cannot mean you are simply erasing power dynamics entirely. that's not how things move forward or reach a just, sustainable future.

we cannot -- there are power differentials at play here. you can say there are two sides and they all need to come together and talk. we've tried that before and it led us to where we are now. the truth is there is one government that holds all of the power and that's the israeli government and they are ruling over and oppressing palestinians. it's important we note that, the accusations being hurled, for example, the idea israel is an apartheid government are things the overwhelming majority of the international human rights committee are saying. this is not just some people here or there were some countries here or there. there are human rights watch, amnesty international -- this has been looked into, proven and investigated. not to mention israeli organizations are saying about their own government and palestinians living under it for decades are saying it as well.

i want to note that in fact, these are accepted ideas, except for bike countries like the united states which refused to acknowledge what the reality on the ground really is. mohammed: one issue i wanted to get into a little bit is to ask how big a problem is the disunity among palestinian leadership? when you have leadership fractured between the palestinian authority and the occupied west bank, what does that do when it comes to trying to resolve the situation? guest: obviously is very destructive. the old adage about a house divided against itself cannot stand certainly applies in the case of the palestinians. they have been deeply divided politically, geographically, institutionally for many years. it has been since 2007. that has been absolutely debilitating and has sapped the palestinian leadership of any

ability to be effective either as a negotiator or governing power. it has also sapped its legitimacy. one of the reason we are seeing this eruption of violence and this armed insurgency concentrated particularly in the northern west bank but not exclusively, is precisely because of the ineffectiveness of both leaderships in ramallah and in gaza. you see palestinians saying the way hamas does things is not going to work, the approach of mahmoud abbas just sitting around waiting for political and diplomatic scar -- double medic stars to align and to restart negotiations, that's not going to happen either. it's only when the occupation feels it has to pay a price to maintaining the status quo that things might change. that is precisely why we are

seeing what is happening now on the ground. and just to go back -- to talk about peace, you have to talk about the drivers of conflict. not simply put groups of people around a negotiating table and say talk to each other. power asymmetry is one of the key factors that drives this conflict, because you've got one power that can impose its will on the ground without negotiations, whether through settlements or state violence to the army, incursions, killings, mass arrests -- israel can do all of these things unilaterally . it has no need for negotiations. that is what drives conflict. you have one side that can impose its will forcibly on the other side, so it is meaningless to talk about negotiation's in this context. and everybody understands that. mohammed: we have run out of

time so we have to leave the conversation there. thank you very much to all of our guests. and thank you for watching. you can see the program any time by visiting our website and for further discussion, go to our facebook page. you can join the conversation on twitter. our handle is at a.j. inside story. for me and the whole team here, goodbye for now.