WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:05.160 Greeting's listeners, and welcome to an in depth analysis on the escalating Israeli Palestinian 2 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:12.759 crisis. Confronting President Biden's bold yet controversial gambit sanctioning violent settlers in hope's catalyzing 3 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:17.839 progress on easily bridging divides. Stay with us on this timely venture seeking to 4 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:24.039 understand and contextualize the impacts and obstacles surrounding the road to reconciliation in the world's 5 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:30.000 most combative corner. This morning, the Biden administration levied sanctions against four Israeli 6 00:00:30.039 --> 00:00:36.000 settlers implicated in a recent spate of violence targeting Palestinian civilians in the disputed West 7 00:00:36.039 --> 00:00:42.520 Bank. While largely symbolic, the sanctions specifically named settlers blamed for atrocities like 8 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:48.280 arson on Palestinian farms, assaults on villagers, and the orchestrating of riots which 9 00:00:48.359 --> 00:00:54.640 left scores injured. They signal that President Biden aims to curb these ruthless vigilantism 10 00:00:54.759 --> 00:01:00.759 acts that his advisers argue severely corrode any remaining hope for good faith peace negotiations. 11 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:07.239 According to United Nations estimates, over five hundred thousand Jewish settlers now occupy 12 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:14.599 fortified residential compounds throughout the Palestinian West Bank Territory, land earmarked for a future 13 00:01:14.680 --> 00:01:19.599 sovereign Palestinian state. Most of the world considers the settlements illegal, though Israeli 14 00:01:19.640 --> 00:01:26.519 officials dispute this. Rights groups say Palestinians in this area have endured decades of 15 00:01:26.599 --> 00:01:34.200 well documented abuse and land grabs, with the situation deteriorating markedly as ideological settlers 16 00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:38.519 tarfile civilians to force them from their homes. Meanwhile, in southern Gaza, 17 00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:45.680 the unrelenting armed violence surrounding Conunis this week set off yet another mass exodus of 18 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:51.120 families fleeing for their lives. Local United Nations officials report that over one point 19 00:01:51.159 --> 00:01:57.439 four million physically and emotionally battered Gazan refugees have inundated the Rafa area, overwhelming 20 00:01:57.480 --> 00:02:02.920 the sparse infrastructure and limited outside relief able to reach this sealed off slice of 21 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:07.800 land. According to one UN spokesperson, most of the displaced Gasen families are 22 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:12.960 now living out in the open, with little access to food, clean water, 23 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:17.439 medical treatment, or proper sanitation. He depicted the teeming Rafa area as 24 00:02:17.479 --> 00:02:23.120 a horrific pressure cooker of human misery and despair, fearing an outbreak of disease 25 00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:29.039 and warning that many more indirect deaths lie ahead. The UN also stated that 26 00:02:29.080 --> 00:02:34.759 an Israeli air and ground assault pushing towards RAFA could provoke an even greater humanitarian 27 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:42.240 calamity. Israeli military officials said that they consider Conunists largely secured after special Forces 28 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:46.840 raids, which they report killed over twenty enemy fighters in fierce house to house 29 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:52.520 urban combat yesterday. Still, they suggest future operations may be slated for RAFA 30 00:02:52.599 --> 00:02:58.479 pending high level security assessments. There are also deeply alarming allegations coming today from 31 00:02:58.520 --> 00:03:05.360 the Palestine Red Crescents Society that IDF snipers have repeatedly opened fire on their humanitarian 32 00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:10.840 relief headquarters in Conunis, located next door to the overwhelmed Alamal Hospital, now 33 00:03:10.919 --> 00:03:17.000 crammed with both bombing victims and families camped out after the destruction of their homes. 34 00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:23.719 Doctors at the hospital issued desperate pleas for immediate international aid and safe transport 35 00:03:24.199 --> 00:03:30.599 out for patients with critical blast injuries and other life threatening conditions, but all 36 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:37.000 border crossings out of Gaza remained sealed shut by Israeli blockade enforcement, with electricity 37 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:43.479 intermittent and generator fuel nearly exhausted, Doctors worn oxygen supplies essential for survival may 38 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:47.840 run out completely within twelve hours. In the backdrop, Bellico's political rhetoric continues 39 00:03:47.960 --> 00:03:54.159 escalating to a fever pitch across the chronically volatile region. Outraged Iranian aligned militia 40 00:03:54.199 --> 00:04:00.319 groups are vowing revenge strikes and ongoing attacks targeting the size of contingent of US 41 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:06.159 troops maintaining bases in Iraq as well as across Syria. This comes after American 42 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:14.400 officials presented circumstantial evidence they claim links Iraqi militants Kataib Hesblah to an armed drone 43 00:04:14.439 --> 00:04:18.199 strike on Sunday which killed three US soldiers stationed in Jordan. Soon after, 44 00:04:18.279 --> 00:04:25.439 the Pentagon stated the US retaliation for these soldier deaths would be immediate and severe. 45 00:04:25.480 --> 00:04:30.519 Some Iranian sponsored militia groups like Kataib Hesbalah have since scrambled to temporarily stand 46 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:35.839 down operations targeting Western forces stationed across the Middle East. They likely fear getting 47 00:04:35.879 --> 00:04:42.120 caught up in US reprisal actions against facilities and weapons caches, but more extreme 48 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:47.120 and defiant militia factions like the Iranian backed group Al Nujaba today pledged ongoing attacks 49 00:04:47.160 --> 00:04:53.160 against what they decry as illegal US occupations in the region. All Nujaba figures 50 00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:59.319 they can weather or evade any American countermeasures. Their spokesman warned rather menacingly that 51 00:04:59.480 --> 00:05:03.839 a resist distant's factions have the right to respond to terrorist crimes by occupying countries 52 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:09.480 against our people, our security, our interests, and our resources. For 53 00:05:09.560 --> 00:05:14.120 his part, Iranian President Raci, on a tour of the country's South province 54 00:05:14.199 --> 00:05:18.360 near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, boasted that his regimes expanding theatre ballistic, 55 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:24.600 missile and drone forces, act to stabilize, not threaten, the chronically combustible 56 00:05:24.680 --> 00:05:31.240 region. Despite such rhetoric, military analysts see the Islamic Republic's actions as aggressively 57 00:05:31.279 --> 00:05:39.959 asserting schiye Persian hegemony over ethnic Arabsunis and an encirclement of arch regional rival Saudi 58 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:46.319 Arabia. Rasi also issued yet another warning to any hostile Western powers that his 59 00:05:46.439 --> 00:05:53.120 country stands fully prepared to powerfully retaliate against any oppressive attacks against the Iranian nation. 60 00:05:53.920 --> 00:06:00.639 He punctuated this declaration by observing extended military exercises by the Iranian rebel evolutionary 61 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:06.560 Guard's Corps naval forces, which Western navies frequently accuse of belligerent actions disrupting international 62 00:06:06.600 --> 00:06:12.959 shipping in the narrow, tense oil transit waters of the Persian Gulf. Recruited 63 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:17.839 from fanatical Bassage paramilitary units originally formed to fight in the nineteen eighties Iran Iraq 64 00:06:17.879 --> 00:06:24.439 war. The Guard's Corps fields a fanatically devoted fighting force, spokesman describe as 65 00:06:24.519 --> 00:06:30.240 ready to sacrifice their lives to uphold Iran's unique interpretation of the Islamic Revolution. 66 00:06:30.680 --> 00:06:34.959 They view the United States as an implacable enemy. In assessing these alarming events, 67 00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:41.959 White House Press Secretary Krying Jean Pierre today reiterated President Biden's determination to prevent 68 00:06:42.040 --> 00:06:47.360 wider conflict through thoughtful yet forceful diplomacy and deterrence. The President has shown he 69 00:06:47.519 --> 00:06:55.519 is willing to explore all options on the table to respond decisively as American lives 70 00:06:55.519 --> 00:07:00.560 and interests demand, while avoiding reckless actions which pull us into to unnecessary wars 71 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:08.199 without clear exit strategies spelled out, she said. Pierre added, this administration 72 00:07:08.360 --> 00:07:12.920 believes there are still reasonable paths left open for de escalation with all players, 73 00:07:13.199 --> 00:07:17.839 including Iran and Palestinian militant groups like Hamas, but we recognize they must signal 74 00:07:17.879 --> 00:07:24.639 willingness to talk before more bloodshed and turmoil becomes inevitable. All sides at this 75 00:07:24.759 --> 00:07:30.240 pivotal juncture will be judged by their deeds rather than public posturing. America stands 76 00:07:30.279 --> 00:07:34.079 ready to play an honest broker role in hunting for elusive peace if that genuine 77 00:07:34.120 --> 00:07:41.079 good faith opening exists. Sentiment among European allies, however, remains somewhat less 78 00:07:41.120 --> 00:07:46.839 sanguine. One Paris based Mideast analyst suggested Tran seems unlikely to suddenly abandon the 79 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:55.920 considerable leverage gained by keeping multiple threats active towards US forces bogged down containing Iranian 80 00:07:55.959 --> 00:08:01.560 proxies scattered across the region. He concluded that Israel, too seems to gain 81 00:08:01.639 --> 00:08:07.680 domestic political benefits from sustaining an atmosphere of perpetual crisis with the Palestinians, enabling 82 00:08:07.759 --> 00:08:15.199 hawkish rhetoric that often translates into electoral success. Without pressure coming from allies linked 83 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:20.519 to AID carots, it looks doubtful either Iran or Israeli power brokers see much 84 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:24.839 incentive to climb down from the ledges they are on, but global powers have 85 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:30.000 shown little appetite of late for intensely engaging inside this spider's web of conflicts and 86 00:08:30.040 --> 00:08:35.399 flashpoints. Friends, our journey together surveying the ever shifting sands and calculus around 87 00:08:35.399 --> 00:08:39.039 peace in the Middle East now concludes. I appreciate you joining me to confront 88 00:08:39.080 --> 00:08:45.279 the persistent obstacles and deep rooted sorrows. I hope you found this analysis worthwhile, 89 00:08:45.559 --> 00:08:50.919 even if the road ahead promises continued travails balancing justice and security while powerful 90 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:58.720 interests cling to privileges and grievances nurtured through generations now passed. Do subscribe for 91 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:03.720 future broadcasts and podcasts ready to provide context and perspective once more. This program 92 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:07.720 was brought to you by Quiet Pleas, offering insights on world affairs. My 93 00:09:07.879 --> 00:09:11.879 thanks for choosing to listen. May we meet again soon.