What can US diplomacy achieve in the Middle East?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 26 October 2023
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After violence erupted between Hamas and Israel, President Biden flew to Tel Aviv to offer his ‘staunch’ ally US support.
In a very public embrace of Israel, he reinforced a relationship that goes back decades to Israel's foundation.
But does the US have the diplomatic influence to bring peace to the region?
This week on the Inquiry: what can US diplomacy achieve in the Middle East.
Contributors:
David Sanger, White House and national security correspondent and senior writer for The New York Times Steven Cook, senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations Emma Ashford, senior fellow at the Stimson Center Brian Katulis, vice president of policy at the Middle East Institute
Presented by Gary O’Donoghue Produced by Louise Clarke Researched by Matt Toulson Co-ordinated by Jordan King
Image: (Photo by GPO/ Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:22.4 | Welcome to the inquiry on the BBC World Service with me, Gary O'Donohue. |
| 0:27.1 | One question, four expert witnesses and an answer. |
| 0:34.4 | It's not often that a US president flies directly into a foreign war zone, |
| 0:39.3 | but such as America's decades-old commitment to Israel, that's precisely what Joe Biden did, |
| 0:45.5 | 10 days after Hamas crossed the border from Gaza, killing more than 1,400 Israelis and other foreign |
| 0:51.9 | nationals and injuring thousands more. |
| 0:57.8 | You're not alone. |
| 1:03.7 | President Biden followed a stream of other high-ranking US diplomats and defence officials |
| 1:09.3 | and many more were to arrive in Israel in the following days, a show of unequivocal solidarity. |
| 1:17.1 | For this long-standing relationship with the world's most powerful country, |
| 1:21.2 | didn't stop Israel being attacked, and decades of diplomatic efforts led by the United States |
| 1:28.0 | have still not succeeded in creating a two-state solution, an independent Palestinian state |
| 1:34.1 | alongside Israel, two states for two peoples. |
| 1:38.9 | In this week's edition of the inquiry, we'll be asking what can US diplomacy achieve |
| 1:44.7 | in the Middle East? |
| 1:49.1 | Part one, crisis diplomacy or diplomacy in crisis. |
| 1:58.2 | So Biden, I think, decided to go for three reasons. |
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