It's the Brian Laird Show on WNRC. Good morning again, everyone. We'll talk now about this month of

September as potentially being crucial in the already so tragic Middle East situation.

An article in the Jerusalem Post this morning notes the annual UN General Assembly session scheduled for New York this month.

In conjunction with that, it says significant western capitals, Paris, London, Brussels, Ottawa, Canberra,

are preparing to recognize a Palestinian state.

It describes Israel, in response, seriously debating again the annexation of parts of the West Bank,

while it says the United Arab Emirates is warning that the Abraham Accords with Arab nations

could unravel if annexation is approved. And the article says,

Washington's position on annexation, well, that remains a bit of an unknown, unquote, from the

Jerusalem Post. All that, of course, is happening as hunger spreads in Gaza, as Israel pursues

its takeover of Gaza City and is warning the million people there to leave,

as Hamas continues to hold nearly 50 Israeli hostages, and as the Israeli public is becoming

increasingly divided over whether war or a temporary ceasefire proposal that Hamas says it would

accept is the best way to bring the hostages home.

Let's try to understand as much as we can with Jane O'Raf, NPR international correspondent, covering the Middle East. She was formerly the New York Times Bureau Chief in Baghdad, among other things,

by way of background. She has reported a lot from Syria and Jordan this summer, as many

you've been hearing on

NPR, following the fall of the dictator Assad, but also very much about Israel and Gaza. She joins

us today from Amman. Jane, thanks for giving us some time today for WNYC listeners, in particular

hello from New York. Thank you for having me, Brian. Your latest story begins with a reference to

Israel's military moving to displace the entire population of Gaza City. Can you explain briefly

the plan and how much it is already happening to the extent that you know? Absolutely. There's a lot

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