Fida Bassil and the Astonishing Israeli

(March 3, 2014)

Fida Bassil, fearless BBC Arabic presenter, has been doing lots of debates between Israelis and Palestinians recently.

She had this Israeli official on the show live from Tel Aviv:

He was quite astonishing. He said:

First of all, we need to remember that this land (the West Bank) was occupied before 1967. At that time, it was occupied by Jordan. Today, according to international law, it is actually not occupied land. So if we build settlements on it ...

Fida: what are you talking about? Your own prime minister says that two lands - that this piece of land should be split into two. Are you now talking about one land? Is that what we've come to?

TelAviv: yes. First of all, the land is already split. There's a Palestinian country in Gaza. Now, there is no one in the world, not in Washington or Amman or London or anywhere, that can tell us that if the West Bank is removed from Israeli control, that it will not become a new Hamasistan.

Fida: alright, let me put that to my guest from Palestine.

Guest from Palestine: reiterates that they want land based on the 1967 borders, and they want no more settlement building.