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tv   SPOTLIGHT  PRESSTV  August 16, 2024 2:02am-2:31am IRST

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hello and welcome, you're watching the spotlight on press tv. as the genocidal war continues in gaza, the death toll has tragically surpassed 40,000 marking a... grim
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milestone in this 10 month conflict. with peace talks now underway in qatar, the world watches closely hoping for a resolution to this ongoing crisis. join us as we explore the latest developments and potential scenarios in the negotiations and what the future may hold for this relentless conflict. to do so, we are joined by mr. said nimr, professor of... political science from rightsight university and ramolaw. we also have with us khalid barakat, spokesperson of the masar badil movement from vancouver. thank you very much to both of you gentlemen, let's begin with professor saad nemer in ramallah. how do you assess the current sate of peace talks in qatar, are they likely to lead to a ceastfire? um, good evening to you.
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and your guest as well from vancouver and for all your viewers, i think that we are very skeptical about you, the results of the talks today, in spite the fact that the americans are so you know hopeful about what's going on and they are cheering about what's going on, but i think this is also part of the policy of the united states at this moment to pressurize even the israelis and especially netanyahu, the hamas is not attending because of hamas saying that we have an agreement on july and we are you know committed to the agreement on july which became also as united nations resolution and that what we comment on now netanyahu he added something like five new conditions and this is i think for a purpose of on one hand to just you destroy this kind of negotiations and on the other of hand and to put more pressure during the
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negotiations so he can say, okay, i will get rid of this condition, in return you have to give me something, so you know this is kind of a way of negotiations, and we we know that netanyahu in the first place, he wanted to really sabotage this talks and that's why we are still till this moment skeptical, because we want to know first of... or how the israeli reacted, the team, the israeli delegation to this negotiation, because as they said that egypt and qatar are speaking on behalf of hamas, but they are still on contact, though hamas is not attending, and hamas is saying, we are committed only to what we agreed upon earlier, and we are waiting for the execution, so what we need now in this negotiation, the execution of the agreement, not to... to renegotiate all other
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new conditions or other conditions. okay, so mr. khalid barakat, do you believe that these of piece talks are simply some kind of a pr campaign on the part of the united states trying to uh create some kind of uh propaganda as though they're seeking peace while they're not? uh, yes, good evening, and i think that this is very good question, and i also believe that the united states have done nothing in the last 10 months except deceiving the international community and trying to buy more time for israeli war criminals to conduct their crimes a daily basis since october 8th ratio of 150 palestinians daily is being killed at the hands of the zies criminal army. with the
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full funding of the united states, not just militarily and politically, but also administrating on behalf of israel, the so-called negotiations, the other issue is that in a dawha today the elephant in the room sort of to speak that they're trying to ignore is the iranian and the lebanese resistance and yemeny resistance response, this is very important point of pressure at the us and israel and also others in the region, they do feel that... that iran not responding until now and the lebanese resistance and and yemen, this is helping the palestinian people and helping the palestinian resistance, the netanyahu government is in crisis, they either going to
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have to accept the uh situation as it was concluded in july 2nd, which is the immediate sessasion of aggression and the withdrawal of all israeli troops and occupying forces from ghazza and allowing the palestinian people to uh, especially the displaced palestinians to go back to their areas and their homes if there is any homes left, but at least this is an important issue for our people in ghazza to be able to move freely and ending the siege on ghazza. without these conditions uh by the palestinian. and resistance we are not going to go anywhere and the situation in the israeli side is very um they're very divided, there is so much internal conflicts within the israeli, not just government, not just
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between the army and the political ranks, but there is a truly deep division in the israeli society, there is the pressure from the family of the zinis. captured in ghazza and at the same time, after 10 months, israel have failed in achieving any of its goals and failed on achieving their secret goal, which is the displacement of the palestinian people, that's their real goal, the displacement of the palestinian people in ghazza, so they can turn into the west bank and you create another na for the palestinian people and drive them into jordan and that is the israeli plan, but this have failed because and due to the steadfastness of the palestinian people in ghazza and the palestinian resistance, and at the same time due to the very strong present of the resistance camp in the region, particularly
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the support of iran, yemen and hizballah in lebanon. well, you touched upon a very important issue which was going to be my next question. so let's bring in mr. nimara to discuss that further. just as our guest from vancouver pointed out the elephant in the room today is the resistance movement and of course iran vowing to retaliate for the assassination of ismail hannah in tehran. now putting that in the equation uh what do you think the future holes for these negotiations and basically what was the reason behind the timing of these negotiations uh, are the americans hoping that this would somehow delay the retaliation? and let's not forget that abdul malik al huthi even today uh once again reiterated that there will be a retaliation. yes, well we believe that
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anyway, first of all we have to understand that the retaliation is coming, especially by iran, hizballah and also yemen, for iran. which is the the the think that the neither the american or the israel would understand, it's a matter of pride and it's a matter of dignity and honor, because ismail han was assassinated in on on the iranian soil, so there will be a retaliation definitely, the same with hizballah, hizballah is not bluffing when he say that we are going to retaliate and that will be really big retaliation as well as for yemanies who didn't... retaliate yet for the bombing of hudaida, so what's going on now with the americans? the americans, they realize that if the israel will retaliate back, then that will bring the whole region into a regional war, which well, at least the americans they
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don't want that, netanyahu interested in that, netanyahu is trying to pull the americans into a regional war, knowing that they can't you know leave israel alone, and in such... case he want them to fight you know iran and to start a war against iran on his behalf and especially when he talks always about the you know the nuclear program in in iran and want to destroy that, so this is the aim of netanyahu. now the americans, they do understand that, and they are not willing at this moment to go into a regional war, for many reasons, the most important one for them, it's the elections which is coming and that will be very bad for the democrats on the one hand, on the other hand also they are not ready, they know that all their also bases in the gulf states are going to be ruined, they know that they are not ready for this. war and that will be also costly for everyone, so it's not in their best interest
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to go into a regional war now, so what they are trying to do with this kind of negotiations in in in qatar is trying to say, okay, what if we stop the war in gaza, regardless whether it's a truth for 42 days or stop the war, which is the one objected by by netanyahu, but at least that will diffuse and... little bit the situation, it might not in this case be the retaliation of iran and hizballah in the same scale like before, because now we are achieving something which is for the sake of the palestinian people as well to stop the war, so the the american think that the scale of the retaliation in this case will be a little bit less than what was expected, so that will diffuse the opportunity for a regional war, but now on israel, whether israel is going really to make this negotiation go ahead or not, the
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american are also, as as khalid said a minute ago, are giving also the israeli some time by talking about this negotiations, today in their speech and especially speak spokesman of of the foreign ministry, he said that it's it's there is no time limit for this negotiations, so for what forever, are we going to stay forever in this negotiations while israel continuing its genocidal war? against the palestinians, so this is you know something sometimes it's not quite clear and at the same time the american are very hopeful with that trying also to give an impression around in the region that this will happen and this will be successful at least in the first stage which is 40 day 42 days of truth while netanyahu insist that i want as a condition i want from the united states a written statement to allow israel to continue the war after the end of these 42 days, so he's he is insisting on continuing
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with the war, because otherwise stopping the war now it means not only defeat to netanyahu but defeat to israel and it's a winning for the the palestinian resistance and this is the second victory for the palestinian resistance after the 7th of october and the failure of the israeli army of achieving any their uh you know aims in this war to to end the palestinian resistance and to release all the prisoners captive by the palestinian resistance, so i think that what's going on now, it's it's about you know how things are going to happen during this negotiations, it will be prolonged, it will be depends on the israeli position as matter of fact if the there are lots of pressure as khared also said inside israel and even in the security part in israel, especially the army and all
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other security forces, they are pressurizing also netanyahu, today the the spokesman of the israeli army said that with philadelphia or without with philadelphia, we can we can protect the interest of israel, it means that the army is prepared from their point of view to pull out of philadelphia and rafah crossings. so it's only netanyahu who put this this condition forward, so we think that netanyahu want sabotage this this negotiations, but we have to wait and see to what extent the pressure on netanyahu internally and externally would bring some you know other other issues into this negotiation. okay, so uh, mr. barakat, what are some scenarios that you predict, what? could be the outcomes of these negotiations?
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well, i think that this depends on the situation in the ground, and it depends on the united states, which direction is planning to take, because it's not just israel, we know that the united states is trying to show force in the region by this military build up that they're doing. in my view, the united states is not, able to conduct any war any anywhere today in in in the world, not because they can't or they lack the capabilities, but because this is not, very popular idea anywhere in the united states, well it seems that we have some technical difficulties connecting to mr. khalid barakat there. okay, so uh let's
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continue with you, professor nemer, and back to that very grim milestone of... uh 40,000 people in gaza, mostly women and children that have been killed so far, uh, what are do you think the most important humanitarian consequences of this conflict for civilians? of course, onrua has mentioned not only uh the grim milestone of 40,000 people being killed, but also children in gaza have not been to school for the past 10 months, which is again another important issue. to be considered, well, if we are going to talk about gaza and what they are subjected to, it's not only the murders in in gaza, who today the official number, those who are registered with their names, how they died, and the examination, those are the 40 thousand, we are talking also about unknown number of those who were buried without even
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examination and without names, the unknown, and just you know like two weeks ago the israel handed over to the red cross 80 corps bodies, they were captive by by the israelis and nobody knows them because they the their their bodies were deteriorated totally and no one can recognize them, so we are talking about huge number of also of those who are not recognized, as well we are talking about around 10,00 estimated those who are still buried under the rebels of of the... bomings so as we know the registered number known people are 40000 and this is you know very high number if we consider all the others we are talking we exceed the 50000 definitely this is on on one way but the other other things in gaza it's not only the the children who lost their year of education the
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universities which was also bombed we are talking about also the hunger which is going on till today, this is a part of of the genocidal war, the the thirst, we are talking about the diseases, we are talking about the suwage system which now flooded in the in the streets and and near the people where they live and where they sleep in the refugee refugee camps that they have, we we are talking about in every aspect of life, there is a big problem, what about the people who lost the their parents children lost? their parents and we are talking also about around 30,000 child who became orphans now who's going to take care of them, what about the situation of you know the psychological situation of the people in gaza, all of them, not only children, but children particularly as well, all that you know will give us picture, it's a very gloomy picture about the
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situation, even if the war stopped now, we need a lot of time and we need lot of help and... we need a lot of of things to be done in in in order at least to restore the dignity for these people, at least in living, don't to live in in tents and to give them somewhere, to give them food, to give them fresh water, drinkable water, because now they are drinking water which is not even you know suitable for for human consumption, food which really people are especially in the north are starving. so we are talking about lots of problems that we need to take care of and to look at, and professor, just quickly, um, last question because we're running out of time, and i also want our guest from vancouver to uh finish his uh of views on the possible scenarios of this uh ceasefire talks that are underway right now. uh, how has the
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international community responded to this escalating death toll in gaza, what were your expectations? and how far is the international community from that? well, if we are, i'm sorry, professor, this was addressed to mr. nimra, i would like you to finish your question later on. professor, yes, professor nimmer, how has the international community responded to this escalating death toll in gaza, what were your expectations, how far are they? from it, we have discussed this issue so many times even in your screen, what, what, what international community, we are talking here about you know people of interest, they are condemning and they are giving statements, but no one is doing anything, even when we are talking about the official organization for united nations organizations or any the other human rights organization, they are
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only speaking, no one is taking action, what we need is not a new statement to say, wow this is too much and this is you know genocide and this is i don't know what, what we need in reality is to for these countries and those people and the international community and united nation organization. to take action in reality to stop israel from continuing in in this genocidal war, and that can't be happening unless there is a you know huge pressure from everywhere. we we believe that the the pressure coming from the people, especially in europe and everywhere around the world with the demonstration coming out on saturdays and sundays had an effect, but so far not yet to reach the moment that these countries will take action to stop israel and to prevent israel from... from continuing with its genocidal war. this is the problem that we are facing today. thank you very much, professor. now mr. barakot, just to end our discussion back to which you were uh telling us the different scenarios uh,
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particularly if these talks fail to produce a cease fire, considering the situation on the ground with the grim milestone that passed today, 40,000 people so far, mostly women and children killed. yes, i want to say first that i agree, with professor nimmer analysis previously on the political situation and on the humanitarian situation and also on what to expect from international community. when we talk about scenarios that is coming out, there is only two scenarios, either the aggression stops and we see a cease fire and an exchange of prisoners and so on and so forth, as the palestinian resistance have said many. times, or we are going to witness escalation that no one would see where it might go, because the united states is
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playing with fire and israel is playing with fire, and if anyone in the region, especially in the arab gulf countries think that they are going to be far away from the fire of any war, they are mistaking, because in a regional war, any aggression against iran or against... the lebanon that comes from whether some us bases in in jordan or in the gulf or british bases in cyprus, this is going to expand the war into a regional war and even beyond, and i think that the united states are weaker than carrying a regional war, they are actually when you look at the internal situation of the us, they're not ready for war, they don't want... a war, although the united states, if they enter into any kind of aggression or war, it's on behalf of the united states interest and not
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uh netanyahu interest, and they see that, and i think that you know the united states doesn't want netanyahu to be defeated, they don't want to see israel defeated, but at the same time the united states also wants to pressure palestinians by starvation and hunger and by you know funding israel with... over 45 billion dollar since october 8 until today, 45 billion dollar, that's like million dollar prize for each palestinian that israel kill. now this is important to see also that the people of the region now are supporting the resistance of time professor and and you know this is important, no one can predict where the... situation could go, thank you very much. mr. khalid barakot, spokesperson the masar badil movement from vancouver, and professor saad nemer, professor of political
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science from brightsite university of ramalah. thank you for sharing your thoughts and views with us on this edition of spotlight. and thanks to all of you viewers for watching this edition. they have memories of uphill battle with a now executed iraqi dictator saddam hussein and his now defunct baptist regime and the like who saw to stifle the pilgrimage. today centuries old arbain walk is still alive thanks to those who serve the... pilgrims of imam hussain from across the world.
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your headlines on press tv: the overall death toll from the us is really genocidal war on the besieg gaza strip surpasses 40,000, most them women and children. "hamas says any agreement on truth in gaza must lead to a comprehensive ceasefire across the territory and the complete withdrawal of israeli forces and the leader of the ansarullah movement says yemen will continue with this anti-israel operations until the genocidal war on the gaza strip comes to an end.