from WNYC studios. I'm Brian Lerer. This is my daily politics podcast. It's Thursday, May 7th.

So while campus protests and police involvement are the big story now in this country. Negotiations for a ceasefire

in Gaza and a longer-term peace are going on in the region. We'll talk now to Aaron David Miller,

who worked for the U.S. government as a Middle East peace negotiator during the Oslo peace process of the 90s,

and overall for 25 years for the State Department

as an analyst, negotiator, and historian. He's the author of books, including the much-to-promised

land, America's elusive search for Arab-Israeli peace. It's sad, and it says a lot that that book

was published in 2008, and here we still are. Aaron David

Miller is currently a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Aaron,

thanks so much for giving us some time today. Welcome to WNYC.

Brian, it's great to be back with you. Let's start with negotiations for a short-term ceasefire,

plus hostage in prisoner exchange.

I see that Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, is in the region trying to finalize a deal,

and he says Israel has put what he calls a very generous offer on the table to Hamas.

Could you list the main points of that proposal as you understand them?

Yeah, by and large, and I think I need to say at the outset, Brian, that this is one of the most

curious and opaque negotiations, certainly that I've ever experienced.

The principal Palestinian decision-maker, Yajas Inouir, is ensconced somewhere meters below ground in a tunnel,

most likely below Rafa or Khan Yunus. There's no trust between Israel and Hamas, two entities,

which are determined to destroy the other, and this is being done indirectly through cutouts.

Help from the Qatari's, now the Egyptians, with the active participation

of CIA director Bill Burns and Mossad director David Barnaya. Right now, I think the outstanding

...