Two-state solution still 'very, very long-shot proposition,' says Brookings' O'Hanlon
2025-12-29_13-38 • 3m 39s
Joe Kernen (Co-anchor of Squawk Box)
00:00.000
President
Trump
and
Israeli
Prime
Minister
Benjamin
Netanyahu
are
expected
to
meet
today
to
discuss
phase
two
of
the
Gaza
Sea
Fire.
Join
us
now
with
what
to
expect.
Michael
Ohanian,
Brookings
Institution
Director
of
Foreign
Policy
Research.
And
good
to
see
you,
Michael.
Good
Joe Kernen (Co-anchor of Squawk Box)
00:17.040
morning.
Happy
New
Year.
Merry
Christmas.
Happy
holidays.
Michael O'Hanlon (Director of Foreign Policy Research)
00:20.360
Thank
you.
Likewise.
Joe Kernen (Co-anchor of Squawk Box)
00:23.200
The
are
you
surprised
that
it's
been
it's
lasted
this
long
and
and
is
it
um
Is
it
misleading
to
say
that?
How
are
things
right
now
in
terms
of
of
the
the
cease-fire?
Michael O'Hanlon (Director of Foreign Policy Research)
00:36.440
Well,
again,
happy
holidays
to
you
as
well
and
thanks
for
having
me
on.
I
think
it's
still
an
extreme
long
shot
if
this
plan
can
work.
You
know
the
idea
of
a
Palestinian
state
has
been
at
the
core
of
American
diplomacy
towards
the
Middle
East
for
30
some
years,
but
it's
become
Michael O'Hanlon (Director of Foreign Policy Research)
00:49.400
increasingly
unrealistic
as
the
years
have
gone
by.
Certainly
October
7th,
2023
push
things
even
further
in
the
unrealistic
direction.
And
although
Israel
now
eliminated
a
large
fraction
of
Hamas.
The
fundamental
idea
of
having
an
international
force
come
in
and
secure
Gaza
and
Michael O'Hanlon (Director of Foreign Policy Research)
01:06.960
route
to
reconstruction
and
then
someday
the
creation
of
a
Palestinian
political
authority
and
even
a
state.
This
is
wonderful
in
theory
but
it's
alluded
us
in
practice
for
a
whole
generation.
And
the
specifics
about
disarming
Hamas,
about
finding
countries
that
would
deploy
Michael O'Hanlon (Director of Foreign Policy Research)
01:25.280
military
forces
into
Gaza,
about
convincing
Israel
to
accept
whatever
work
those
international
forces
might
do
to
disarm
Hamas
and
monitor
the
ceasefire.
Every
one
of
these
propositions
is
still
extremely
unlikely
individually.
You
put
them
all
together
and
I
I
do
not
expect
Michael O'Hanlon (Director of Foreign Policy Research)
01:41.640
this
plan
to
work.
I
would
love
it
if
it
would.
I'd
love
to
be
proven
wrong,
but
this
is
still
a
very
very
long
shot
proposition.
Joe Kernen (Co-anchor of Squawk Box)
01:49.680
So
Netanyahu's
opposed
to
a
Palestinian
say
would
you
say
that
that
his
successor
or
or
Israel
as
a
as
an
entity
is
opposed
to
that?
Michael O'Hanlon (Director of Foreign Policy Research)
02:01.320
I
don't
believe
that
Israel
supports
the
idea
now
as
a
political
entity
and
I
think
this
was
always
divisive
issue
in
Israel
but
since
October
7th,
2023
Israeli
politics
have
shifted
and
the
willingness
to
countenance
a
territory
controlled
by
Palestinians
where
a
group
like
Michael O'Hanlon (Director of Foreign Policy Research)
02:19.760
Hamas
could
infiltrate
whether
the
other
Palestinians
there
wanted
that
to
happen
or
not.
This
has
become
I
think
a
very
hard
thing
for
Israelis
to
accept
in
the
aftermath
of
the
terrible
tragedy
too.
two
years
ago.
So,
I'm
not
going
to
claim
that
it's
impossible
forever,
but
Michael O'Hanlon (Director of Foreign Policy Research)
02:34.880
right
now
Netanyahu
is
more
at
the
center
of
Israeli
politics
on
this
issue
than
he
used
to
be.
He
used
to
be,
right-wing
half
of
the
equation.
Now
he's
sort
of
right
down
the
middle,
I'm
afraid.
Joe Kernen (Co-anchor of Squawk Box)
02:45.520
Well,
President
Trump
discuss
this
and
will
will
he
urge
Netanyahu
to
be
more
flexible?
Michael O'Hanlon (Director of Foreign Policy Research)
02:54.680
He
might,
but
the
question
is,
you
know,
what
will
Netanyahu
say
in
reply
to
try
to
deflect
that
pressure.
And
I
think
Netanyahu
will
talk
about
the
things
I
just
mentioned.
How
do
we
make
sure
Hamas
disarms?
How
do
we
find
a
way
to
keep
it
disarmed?
Who's
going
to
do
that
Michael O'Hanlon (Director of Foreign Policy Research)
03:11.240
monitoring?
Who's
going
to
do
that
peace
keeping?
Netanyahu's
going
to
remind
President
Trump,
I'm
sure
that
no
country
has
yet
signed
up
to
be
part
of
that
international
force
in
Gaza.
And
so
I
think
Netanyahu
may
pay
lip
service
to
the
theoretical
long-term
idea
of
a
Michael O'Hanlon (Director of Foreign Policy Research)
03:25.640
Palestinian
state
or
at
least
not
repudiate
it
in
the
White
House,
the
way
he
has
in
his
own
country,
but
he's
going
to
talk
about
all
these
short-term
obstacles
and
requirements
as
a
way
to
deflect
any
pressure.
That's
my
expectation.
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