Piers Hadil El-Shalchi
Appearances
Up First from NPR
Israel Strikes Gaza, Trump And The Courts, Takeover At US Institute Of Peace
Well, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been threatening this whole time to go back to war if Hamas did not release more hostages. This time, Israel says it is targeting Hamas militant commanders, wants to degrade Hamas's ability to rearm. That's according to an Israeli official who wasn't authorized to speak publicly.
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Israel Strikes Gaza, Trump And The Courts, Takeover At US Institute Of Peace
Just a reminder, the first phase of the ceasefire ended on March 1st. Over six weeks, Hamas released 33 hostages. Israel freed almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. The second phase was supposed to see a total withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and a permanent end to the war.
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Israel Strikes Gaza, Trump And The Courts, Takeover At US Institute Of Peace
But instead of starting those second phase talks, Israel came back and said it wanted an extension of the first phase, where Hamas would return half the living hostages still held in Gaza. So what did Hamas say? Well, Hamas said that it had held up its end of the first phase of the deal and wanted to start second phase deal talks, refused the extension, which has led to these attacks.
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Israel Strikes Gaza, Trump And The Courts, Takeover At US Institute Of Peace
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that, quote, the gates of hell will open in Gaza if all the hostages are not returned. And then we also know that the White House spokesperson, Caroline Leavitt, confirmed that Israel consulted the Trump administration before the strikes. And what are we hearing from inside Gaza? Well, I mean, explosions could be heard across the Strip.
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Israel Strikes Gaza, Trump And The Courts, Takeover At US Institute Of Peace
The Gaza Health Ministry says hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, including children. NPR's Gaza producer Enes Baba was at Al-Ahli Hospital this morning.
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Israel Strikes Gaza, Trump And The Courts, Takeover At US Institute Of Peace
Also, an Israeli military spokesman warned residents in several Gaza neighborhoods to start evacuating immediately.
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Israel Strikes Gaza, Trump And The Courts, Takeover At US Institute Of Peace
So it might be a little too early to tell if the war is fully back on or what these strikes mean exactly for the ceasefire. You know, in recent weeks, Israel has been steadily increasing strikes in Gaza. Hamas hasn't yet responded with its own strikes. But today's assault is, of course, a pressure tactic by Israel to get Hamas to accept that extension. And they're a huge step back.
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Israel Strikes Gaza, Trump And The Courts, Takeover At US Institute Of Peace
Israel has blocked all aid, including food and medical supplies, three weeks ago. So aid groups are rationing quickly dwindling supplies. And of course, you know, what does this mean for the fate of the hostages still inside Gaza? Israel says 59 remain held by Hamas, 24 of whom are still believed to be alive. NPR's Hadil El-Shalchi in Tel Aviv.
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Israel Strikes Gaza, Trump And The Courts, Takeover At US Institute Of Peace
You're welcome.
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Israeli Embassy Employees Killed, Israel's Occupation Plans, Trump Bill Latest
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Israeli Embassy Employees Killed, Israel's Occupation Plans, Trump Bill Latest
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Israeli Embassy Employees Killed, Israel's Occupation Plans, Trump Bill Latest
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Syria's Relationship With Israel, Birthright Citizenship, Trump's Big Bill
I mean, it really appears so. Syrian President Ahmad al-Shar has been saying he wants no trouble with Israel for months now. And yesterday he said in a speech that Syria will be a land of peace. You know, the Syrian government has been making these overtures ever since they took power in December.
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Syria's Relationship With Israel, Birthright Citizenship, Trump's Big Bill
You know, two weeks after the fall of the Assad regime, I spoke to the Damascus governor, Meher Marwan, who said on behalf of his leader, Syria wanted cordial relations with Israel. This is what he told me. Marwan said, we want peace and we cannot be an opponent to Israel or an opponent to anyone else. He also told me that he wanted the United States to facilitate those relations.
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Syria's Relationship With Israel, Birthright Citizenship, Trump's Big Bill
And then yesterday, on the heels of Trump's comments, Shara's spokesperson, Ali Rifai, spoke to Israeli media and he backed this up. He said, we want peace in the region and that includes Israel.
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Syria's Relationship With Israel, Birthright Citizenship, Trump's Big Bill
So there's no official comment yet, but we do know that Israel was kind of stunned at the news that Trump wants to lift sanctions. You know, Israeli media had reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Trump not to lift them. Israel's line all along has been that shut on his people are terrorists, that Israel must defend itself from them. And they say that's why they need to expand.
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Syria's Relationship With Israel, Birthright Citizenship, Trump's Big Bill
And they've been expanding past a long recognized limit. buffer zone into Syria. Israel's also been continuing its bombing campaign in targets in and around Damascus. But you know, at the end of the day, here in Israel, Syria, of course, is a consideration. But front of mine is the war in Gaza.
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Syria's Relationship With Israel, Birthright Citizenship, Trump's Big Bill
Well, just in the past 24 hours, Gaza health officials said at least 150 Palestinians were killed, including dozens of children in Israeli airstrikes in the north and the south of Gaza. You know, Israel's also blocked aid into Gaza for more than 10 weeks now. No food, medical supplies, shelter supplies have entered Gaza in that time.
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Syria's Relationship With Israel, Birthright Citizenship, Trump's Big Bill
Israel says it wants to pressure Hamas to release more hostages that way. But aid groups say that Gaza is on the brink of famine, that nearly half a million Palestinians are in, quote, catastrophic levels of hunger. During this trip that Trump is on in the Gulf, there haven't been any public talks about a ceasefire.
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Syria's Relationship With Israel, Birthright Citizenship, Trump's Big Bill
But this morning he did tell reporters that he has concepts for Gaza, that he'd be happy to let the U.S. get involved and he'd make Gaza, quote, a freedom zone.
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Syria's Relationship With Israel, Birthright Citizenship, Trump's Big Bill
You're welcome.
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Pope Francis's Funeral Ceremony; Gaza Goes Hungry Under Israeli Blockade
Good morning, Scott.
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Pope Francis's Funeral Ceremony; Gaza Goes Hungry Under Israeli Blockade
Right. So the UN's World Food Program announced yesterday that it has run out of food stocks that it supplies to charity kitchens that make meals for Palestinians. You know, about half of Gaza's population depends on it. Israel says it's blocked the aid because it wants Hamas to hand over more hostages and it accuses Hamas of stealing the aid.
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Pope Francis's Funeral Ceremony; Gaza Goes Hungry Under Israeli Blockade
But the UN says that very little is actually diverted and humanitarian groups are calling the blockade a starvation tactic and potentially a war crime.
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Pope Francis's Funeral Ceremony; Gaza Goes Hungry Under Israeli Blockade
Yeah. So NPR's producer in Gaza, Enes Baba, went to one of these charity kitchens in central Gaza and spoke to Nader Qatun. He was in line to get that one plate of rice to feed his family of seven. He says the situation is catastrophic. There's no food, clean water, and life is just impossible. You know, Enes himself has also told us he's been struggling to find food and the cash to buy it.
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Pope Francis's Funeral Ceremony; Gaza Goes Hungry Under Israeli Blockade
Because, you know, some other aid groups still have food stocks, and there is still some food in the markets, but they're all quickly diminishing because no new goods are coming into Gaza. And the UN says the price of food in those markets has soared by as much as 1,400%.
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Pope Francis's Funeral Ceremony; Gaza Goes Hungry Under Israeli Blockade
I mean, short answer is not really. What we do know is that this week Israel said the head of Mossad met with Qatari officials in Doha. And Hamas said it sent a delegation to Cairo and some talks with Egyptian mediators started today with them. But this is basically where we've been at for the past couple of months.
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Pope Francis's Funeral Ceremony; Gaza Goes Hungry Under Israeli Blockade
You know, Hamas is still insisting on a full end to the war before releasing any more hostages. And Israel says it wants a short term ceasefire that would see some more of the hostages released. And they said that they just won't stop until Hamas is completely defeated. And we know that the Trump administration has made it very clear that it backs Israel.
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Pope Francis's Funeral Ceremony; Gaza Goes Hungry Under Israeli Blockade
That's right. So, ultra-nationalist security minister Itamar Ben-Gavir was in the U.S. this week. You know, during the Biden administration, ultra-nationalist politicians like Ben-Gavir were persona non gratis for things like their extremist, racist views on Arabs. But while Ben-Gavir didn't meet with President Trump this week, he did attend an event at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.
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Pope Francis's Funeral Ceremony; Gaza Goes Hungry Under Israeli Blockade
He said he met with senior Republican officials there. He didn't name them, though. And after the meeting, he said he has support for his position on Gaza, which includes bombing food aid depots there as a means to pressure Hamas to return the hostages. But it wasn't all warm. Anti-Gaza war protesters threw bottles at him, and apparently they didn't miss.
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Pope Francis's Funeral Ceremony; Gaza Goes Hungry Under Israeli Blockade
when he was leaving an event hosted by a Jewish group at Yale University.
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Ceasefire On Track, Pandemic Preparedness, Pepsi Sued
Well, we're starting to get a little bit more information about the timing of the ceasefire and what this multi-phase deal will look like in the next few weeks. Hamas and Israel have both promised to hold their fire starting at 8.30 tomorrow morning here in Israel. And then no earlier than the same afternoon, we should start seeing people be released.
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Ceasefire On Track, Pandemic Preparedness, Pepsi Sued
33 hostages freed over this first phase for almost 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
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Ceasefire On Track, Pandemic Preparedness, Pepsi Sued
Well, first of all, let's remember that this deal contains much of the conditions that President Biden actually helped come up with last May. But geopolitically now, things have changed so much in the Middle East since that time. Hamas has lost a lot of its military capabilities over 15 months of war and suffered serious leadership losses, including its longtime head, Yahya Sinwar.
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Ceasefire On Track, Pandemic Preparedness, Pepsi Sued
And then Hamas's backers, also including Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, have been weakened significantly by Israel. But then there's something new. They're incoming president of Donald Trump. Trump has said all hell will break loose in the Middle East if a deal to end the war wasn't reached just before he becomes president. And that's on Monday.
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Ceasefire On Track, Pandemic Preparedness, Pepsi Sued
And this wasn't just a warning to Hamas. It was also a call to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get serious about closing a deal.
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Ceasefire On Track, Pandemic Preparedness, Pepsi Sued
Well, it is the eve of the ceasefire, and Palestinians in Gaza and Israelis are both kind of saying, we'll believe it when we see it. In Gaza, the past few days have been some of the deadliest in recent weeks.
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Ceasefire On Track, Pandemic Preparedness, Pepsi Sued
Just last night, there were Israeli airstrikes that the military said targeted Hamas weapon sites and fighters, and Gaza health officials said 122 Palestinians were killed in those strikes, including 33 children. Our producer in Gaza, Enes Baba, talked to Mohamed Aboulkas in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
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Ceasefire On Track, Pandemic Preparedness, Pepsi Sued
Aboulkas says he's not really optimistic yet, and he won't be until he will be able to go back to whatever is left of his home. And then here in Israel, there is relief that some hostages are coming home, but it will also be heartbreaking to see them suffer from psychological, physical challenges after being held for 15 months.
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Ceasefire On Track, Pandemic Preparedness, Pepsi Sued
Sivan Yadin was at a protest in Tel Aviv this week, and she said she doesn't like the deal is carried out in phases. Yadin says she would have preferred that all hostages return home at the same time because they should be reunited now with their families.
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Ceasefire On Track, Pandemic Preparedness, Pepsi Sued
Well, day one, tomorrow, the releases begin. Hamas is supposed to free three female hostages. And then the Israelis are supposed to release 30 Palestinian prisoners for each of them. And then there should be weekly releases and the beginning of a troop withdrawal, a surge of aid into Gaza, and some displaced Palestinians should be able to go back home in the north.
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Ceasefire On Track, Pandemic Preparedness, Pepsi Sued
But negotiators still need to talk about what the upcoming phases are supposed to look like and hopefully bring an end to the war.
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Jimmy Carter Remembered, Syria-Israel Relations, South Korea Plane Crash
Well, this is the governor of Damascus, Meher Marwan. He's appointed by the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, Ahmed al-Sharah. So he's in his inner circle, really one of Syria's leading officials. Marwan met us in a massive, ornate room. He was very pleasant, wore a suit and tie. He only shook hands with the two male colleagues with me, and we had a wide-ranging interview, almost an hour.
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Jimmy Carter Remembered, Syria-Israel Relations, South Korea Plane Crash
But at the end, he raised the subject of Israel, which frankly surprised us. You know, remember, Israel has been bombing Syria regularly since the regime fell, and it sees some of the Golan Heights. The governor started off by saying that it was, quote, natural that Israel felt some fear when HTS took power, and so it may have advanced a little or bombed a little.
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Jimmy Carter Remembered, Syria-Israel Relations, South Korea Plane Crash
Marwan went on to say that Syria's problem was not with Israel and that Syria couldn't be an opponent to Israel and wanted coexistence. Marwan said we don't want to meddle in anything that would threaten Israel's security or the security of any other country.
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Jimmy Carter Remembered, Syria-Israel Relations, South Korea Plane Crash
Well, it was very obvious he wanted this message to be heard in the United States. You know, he sat up in his chair, made sure we heard him carefully. He said he wanted the United States to use its influence to help mediate this coexistence with Israel. A U.S. official told NPR that the U.S. had relayed the message to Israel.
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Jimmy Carter Remembered, Syria-Israel Relations, South Korea Plane Crash
And in a statement to NPR, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that it rejected any overture from HTS. And Leila, like you said, it was remarkable. For two reasons. First, Syria and Israel have been in a state of war since Israel's creation in 1948. They've never had diplomatic ties.
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Jimmy Carter Remembered, Syria-Israel Relations, South Korea Plane Crash
And second, this is a message coming from a group designated a terrorist organization by the United States with former affiliation to al-Qaeda. And what was the regional reaction? Well, first of all, the news got huge traction in the Middle East. Almost every Israeli and Arab media outlet picked it up.
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Jimmy Carter Remembered, Syria-Israel Relations, South Korea Plane Crash
The parts of the interview I used in my radio piece of his voice were played all over Arabic social media. And then that's when the backlash began. Israel and many of its Arab neighbors, like you know, have been at war for decades. And talk of normalization and normalizing relations is controversial, especially after the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians.
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Jimmy Carter Remembered, Syria-Israel Relations, South Korea Plane Crash
So HDS discussing possible peace with Israel was shocking to many Arabs and, in fact, unwelcome. And has there been blowback for the governor? First, the government itself distanced itself from Marwan and his comments with a statement saying that they did not represent the views of the foreign ministry or of those of Shara, which is contrary to what the governor told us.
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Jimmy Carter Remembered, Syria-Israel Relations, South Korea Plane Crash
And in the evening, he issued a video distancing himself from his comments to NPR. He said, I did not touch on the topic of peace with Israel and it's not my right to do so. And yesterday evening in an interview with an Arabic TV news channel, HTS leader Shara didn't address Israel directly, but said he didn't want Syria to become a source of political or regional unrest.
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Jimmy Carter Remembered, Syria-Israel Relations, South Korea Plane Crash
NPR's Hadil El-Shalchi in Damascus. Thank you. You're welcome.
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New Orleans Answers, House Speaker Vote, Golan Heights Tensions
So what did you find? Well, the Golan Heights is a swath of land about 40 miles away from the capital, Damascus. The land is hilly, dotted with olive groves and grazing cows. It's also surrounded by these beautiful snow-capped mountains. I visited the province of Al-Quneitra. It's part of which lies in this buffer zone that the Israelis entered a month ago.
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New Orleans Answers, House Speaker Vote, Golan Heights Tensions
Residents said the troops set up checkpoints, regularly entering their villages and searching homes for weapons. The Israeli military has said they're protecting itself and it coordinates its operations with the local populations. Troops have set up in areas of a village called Al-Hamidiyah, for example. I was on its edge yesterday and saw a tank at a new checkpoint on the main road.
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New Orleans Answers, House Speaker Vote, Golan Heights Tensions
And also, wherever you go, there are these tank tracks all over the roads.
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New Orleans Answers, House Speaker Vote, Golan Heights Tensions
I heard a lot of fear in a village called Al-Baath. I spoke to one Syrian resident, Mohammed Farrokh, who lived maybe 300 yards away from where the Israelis had set up a checkpoint. He said tanks roll into his village constantly.
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New Orleans Answers, House Speaker Vote, Golan Heights Tensions
Farouk says his small daughter now wakes up at night shouting, a tank, a tank, out of fear. In another village I went to, Jabhat al-Khashab, the mayor told me he met with Israeli troops and they told him they wanted to enter their homes to search for weapons.
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New Orleans Answers, House Speaker Vote, Golan Heights Tensions
So to keep the troops out, the mayor went back to his community, rounded up any weapons they had and handed them over to the Israeli military. Also met with one displaced Syrian family who said Israeli troops moved into their village and forced them out of their homes, demolishing buildings along the way. And what's the Israeli military saying about all this?
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New Orleans Answers, House Speaker Vote, Golan Heights Tensions
Well, we asked the Israeli military for comment about all those incidents. We're waiting for their response. And there's also been reports of anti-Israeli protests in various villages. In Sueza, for example, I met two young men who were injured when they said Israeli troops shot into the crowd. We're waiting on Israeli comment on that incident also.
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New Orleans Answers, House Speaker Vote, Golan Heights Tensions
And what are Syrians saying about this seizure of land? Right. So, well, for context, Israel seized and occupied the Golan Heights from Syria during the Arab-Israeli War of 67. And then they began settling the land. The settlements are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes that.
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New Orleans Answers, House Speaker Vote, Golan Heights Tensions
And in 74, the two countries agreed to create this buffer zone in part of the Golan Heights. And that's the area that the Israeli military entered yesterday. So all of this is making Syrians worry that the move may mean more annexation, more displacement, and probably more settlements. Right.
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New Orleans Answers, House Speaker Vote, Golan Heights Tensions
And what have the new leaders of Syria, the rebel group Hayat Tahrir Hashem, or HTS, and Israel said about the situation? I mean, Israel has been adamant. A couple of weeks ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the seized buffer zone and said, quote, we will stay until another arrangement ensures Israel's security. And for HTS, not a lot.
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New Orleans Answers, House Speaker Vote, Golan Heights Tensions
The residents of the villages I visited said they hadn't heard much from them and HTS hadn't sent any forces to even protect them.