Schiller Institute Southwest Asia Coordinator Hussein Askary gave a 53-minute interview to Danish Schiller Institute Vice President and EIR contributor Michelle Rasmussen upon his return from a trip to Southwest Asia.
The interview is part of the Schiller Institute’s effort to stop the genocide in Gaza and to put the Oasis Plan for peace through economic development between Israel and Palestine, and for the whole of Southwest Asia, on the agenda at the UN High-Level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution on June 17-20, sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia.
Askary made an impassioned plea to stop the Israeli war, and stressed that even many more Palestinians could die as a result of the humanitarian blockade and destruction of infrastructure than from the bombing, as happened in his native Iraq. He pointed to the key role that could be played by the U.S. and President Trump in stopping Israel, though, he said, international peaceful protests should continue. The growing internal Israeli opposition is very important, and the Europeans can take actions, such as sanctions and stopping their own military and intelligence support for Israel.
Askary appealed for a change in mindset, for Israelis to understand that the Palestinians are also humans created in the image of God, which is the philosophical basis for the Oasis Plan for peace through economic development. He connected the plan to the Egyptian reconstruction plan for Palestine, and China’s Belt and Road Initiative, including the Chinese success in transforming the desert in Xinjiang. It is important that the Oasis Plan be part of the discussion during the High-Level International Conference, he said. The problem with Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States was that he only thinks about money deals, and not economic development. Askary said that although economic development was part of the 1990s Oslo Accords before they were sabotaged, the time has now come for recognition of a Palestinian State, which was left out in Oslo.
Askary also had insights into the current situation in Iran, and how a nuclear energy deal would allow the country to blossom.
Rasmussen urged viewers to conduct whatever peaceful protests they could, to stop the genocide in Gaza, to put the Schiller Institute’s Oasis Plan on the agenda, and to watch and share the Schiller Institute’s May 24-25 international conference in the U.S., where high-level discussion will take place.
