LEILA FADEL, HOST:
When a reporter asked President Trump, on his first day in office if he's confident the Gaza ceasefire agreement will hold, he didn't skip a beat.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I'm not confident. This is not our war. It's their war. But I'm not confident. But I think they're very weakened on the other side.
FADEL: Hours after taking office, Trump overturned Biden administration sanctions on Israeli settlers who have committed violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. And soon after, Israel carried out a major military operation in the West Bank, killing 10 and injuring 40 others. We're joined now by Diana Buttu, a Palestinian Canadian human rights lawyer and former peace talks negotiator. Good morning.
DIANA BUTTU: Good morning. Thank you, Leila.
FADEL: Thank you for being here. So with this ceasefire in place between Israel and Hamas - a fragile ceasefire, a temporary ceasefire - Israel yesterday launched what it says were counterterrorism raids in the occupied West Bank to target militants. Does this risk the ceasefire agreement?
BUTTU: Yes, of course, and I think that that was the entire purpose of Israel doing this. Look, I don't think that obtaining this ceasefire agreement was without a price. In other words, I think that Trump put some conditions on Netanyahu, or quite the other way around - Netanyahu put conditions on Trump, saying that he wants to have everything from the sanctions on the settlers removed to being able to have a free hand in the West Bank. And so it's not at all surprising that we are seeing this massive raid inside the West Bank. And this is because Netanyahu doesn't actually want to have a ceasefire, because for him, continuing the attack on Gaza keeps him in office longer and keeps the spotlight away from him and instead - keeps focusing on Gaza instead.
FADEL: Now, of course, Israel says this was about going after militants in this area. President Trump, as you pointed out, was partially credited for facilitating the ceasefire agreement, but given - and then is quickly reversing sanctions, lifting the U.S. freeze on 2,000-pound bombs going to Israel, and his remark that this is, quote, "not our war." Do you think the ceasefire will hold if the U.S. ends its involvement in the deal? And what happens with future aspirations for Palestinians and a state?
BUTTU: One of the things that's really important is - for people to understand is that this could have ended under Biden with a simple phone call because the fact that Israel gets its weapons - most of its weapons from the United States. So a simple stopping of transferring these weapons that are being used to carry out war crimes could have been done under Biden, but he instead chose not to. So the question is whether Trump is going to continue that arms sales, and it sounds as though he is. So the issue becomes whether the United States is going to remain involved, or whether they're just going to say that genocide can continue as usual.
But on all of this, and this is - it's very important to note that, you know, Israel, when it's going into Palestinian places, it's actually going into Palestinian homes. It's terrorizing these people, and people do have a right to protect their homes. The issue here is that because Israel has been given such a free hand, this is why you see Israel operating the way that it's operating now. It does not want a ceasefire. It wants to continue to carry out its attack on Gaza.
FADEL: And I will point out Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch call this a genocide. The International Court of Justice - it's the basis of the case, but it is something Israel and the United States still deny. You know, inside Trump's circle, they - people have started to weigh in on the future of Israel and the Palestinians. Yesterday, Elise Stefanik, Trump's nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said she believes Israel has a biblical right to all of the West Bank - views held by far-right ministers in Israel. What do you think that means for a future Palestinian state? We only have a few - 40 seconds left.
BUTTU: Their entire point is that they want to ethnically cleanse Palestine, and they're going to do whatever it takes to ethnically cleanse Palestine. The fact that we're now seeing these people, who are ideological, who actually believe in ethnic cleansing is terrifying as a Palestinian.
FADEL: Diana Buttu is a Palestinian human rights lawyer and a former peace talks negotiator. Thank you for speaking with us and being on the program.
BUTTU: Thank you, Leila. Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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