Long-Term Prospects for Peace in the Middle East

Fareed Zakaria GPS

CNN

News

4.3 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 12 October 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today on the show, two years after the October 7th attacks, Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire. Will it lead to a lasting peace? Fareed is joined by President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations Richard Haass to get his take on the Trump-brokered deal. Then, what does the ceasefire plan mean for rebuilding Gaza and the possibility of Palestinian statehood? Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti speaks with Fareed on the long-term prospects for peace. Later, Fareed talks with historian William Dalrymple about his new book “The Golden Road” about how much the modern world owes to ancient Indian civilization. Finally, nine of America's top colleges recently received a letter from the Trump administration saying that if they agree to run their institutions in line with the admin's political agenda, they will receive expanded access to federal funding. Fareed sits down with Christopher Eisgruber, president of Princeton University, to discuss his thoughts on the increasing pressure on American higher education institutions. GUESTS: Richard Haass (@RichardHaass); Mustafa Barghouti (@MustafaBarghou1); William Dalrymple (@DalrympleWill); Christopher Eisgruber Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is GPS, the Global Public Square.
0:05.0	Welcome to all of you in the United States and around the world.
0:08.0	I'm Farid Zakaria, coming to you live.
0:11.0	Today on the program, Israel and Hamas agree to the initial phase of President Trump's 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza.
0:20.0	The ceasefire held over the weekend, will it lead to lasting peace?
0:24.6	I'll ask Richard Haas.
0:26.6	Then we get the Palestinian perspective on the deal from the politician Mustafa Barguti.
0:34.6	Also, I'll ask Princeton's precedent about the White House's extraordinary intrusion
0:40.3	into American higher education. And finally, which ancient civilization did the mathematical
0:49.0	concept of zero, the decimal system, Arabic numbers, and the idea that the Earth orbits around the sun all originate.
0:57.0	Warning, I threw in a red herring in there. But stay tuned to find out the actual answer.
1:04.0	But first, here's my take. Donald Trump is often called a transactional president, and this week that app description led to success.
1:15.3	The ceasefire negotiated between Israel and Hamas was a transaction and a complicated one at that.
1:22.3	It's worth placing all the caveats that this is only phase one, and it may break down or get stuck if the parties
1:28.1	renege on their commitments. But the first phase is in fact a plausible pathway to ending
1:34.5	the horrific violence in Gaza and represents a chance well worth taking. It also reveals
1:41.5	five important realities about the Middle East today.
1:45.0	First, Israel is in a commanding position of strength.
1:50.0	Dan Ciner, the Republican analyst and author, noted on GPS last week that the deal was an Israeli plan,
1:56.0	or at least an American plan that Israelis could live with.
2:00.0	Well, Israel is the power on the ground, and it's become more powerful in the last two years
2:04.6	as it has defeated an array of its enemies abroad.
	...

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