JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
President Trump announced a breakthrough yesterday in peace negotiations in Gaza, but it did not take long for the key parties, Israel and Hamas, to raise objections. NPR's Frank Langfitt has been following the story from Tel Aviv and is with us now. Hi there.
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: Hi, Juana.
SUMMERS: So, Frank, what did President Trump say, and how did Hamas and Israel pour cold water on that?
LANGFITT: Yeah. The president said Hamas would totally disarm. They'd give up their weapons, and as that was concluding, then Israeli forces would begin to pull back from parts of Gaza. Now, within hours, Juana, a Hamas official told NPR Israel would have to withdraw first before it gave up any weapons. Now this evening, Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir - he called the agreement unacceptable. He said Israel must be allowed to continue to target Hamas fighters. Otherwise, Hamas could regroup, prepare to attack Israel again, as it did back in October 7 of 2023.
SUMMERS: And, Frank, I understand that you have been talking to experts in the region, as well as here in the United States. What's the reaction been so far?
LANGFITT: It's been interesting and varied. Diana Buttu - she's a former Palestinian peace negotiator. She does not expect the deal to work. Buttu doesn't think Trump really cares about the Gazan people, that he's more interested in burnishing his legacy. Otherwise, she says he would have put more pressure on Israel to stop these attacks that have led to hundreds of Palestinian deaths, even during what's supposed to be a ceasefire.
DIANA BUTTU: I think if he were truly interested in this peace plan, as he put it, then he would have made sure that Israel was stopped.
SUMMERS: Interesting. Frank, I want to ask, did you hear other more optimistic takes?
LANGFITT: I did. You know, there was another peace negotiator. He's here in Israel, Gershon Baskin. He's negotiated with Hamas. He's worked with Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East. And he agrees that Trump is focused on his legacy, but he thinks that could be a good thing. Baskin thinks that's a reason he might apply more pressure and that Trump and his Board of Peace have said they won't help rebuild Gaza unless, you know, Hamas follows a roadmap. Baskin says Hamas is in the weakest position he's ever seen.
GERSHON BASKIN: The first thing is that Hamas has no leverage. They're finished. They have no power anymore. They know that they cannot govern, they cannot rule.
SUMMERS: So, Frank, if Hamas is vulnerable to pressure, what about the Israelis and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?
LANGFITT: Yeah. People think Trump has leverage there as well because the U.S., of course - it's the biggest military supporter of Israel. Israelis are weary (ph) of war, but they're also - you know, they're kind of skeptical of this deal, and of course, far-right members of Netanyahu's coalition, they hate it. Elections are coming in October, so Netanyahu, he finds himself in a tight position. There was one analyst I talked to who said that's a reason why Trump might not apply too much pressure right now. And one last thing. Netanyahu has not yet addressed Trump's announcement.
SUMMERS: Interesting. We'll be watching for that. Frank, I want to know, what is your sense of how hard it'll be to get the parties to eventually agree to the plan and then go on and implement it?
LANGFITT: I think everybody thinks it's going to - it could be very difficult. I was talking to Daniel Shapiro. He's a former U.S. ambassador to Israel during the Obama administration. He calls the plan a worthy effort, but he says there are lots of ways it could go wrong.
DANIEL SHAPIRO: At every stage, every step is going to be fought over. People are going to contradict each other, read different things into the documents, claim different requirements, fight the other side as part of the sequence that's laid out.
SUMMERS: What are the other hurdles right now?
LANGFITT: Well, what we've seen so far in recent months - you know, there's a peacekeeping force that is supposed to come in, but it has yet to really come together. There's been some recruitment, but not a lot of training. There's a Palestinian technocratic governing committee. They're supposed to take over from Hamas, but they've been stuck in a hotel in Cairo, waiting to get into Gaza.
SUMMERS: That's NPR's Frank Langfitt. Thank you.
LANGFITT: Happy to do it, Juana. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
