This things first ran on Thursday 5 September 2014
Gerson BaskinThe Israeli hostage interpreter knows what it takes to do business with Hamas. He began contacting senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamid in 2006 and the relationship laid the foundation for the deal that freed Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011.
“I’m totally focused on rescuing Gilad Shalit,” Baskin tells Michael Safi. “That was my mission. That’s what I was told. And I would talk to the devil if it was necessary for Gilad Shalit to live in his house. So I didn’t stop to consider their political conditions, and their clear will to kill everyone, including me.
After the deal, Baskin stayed in touch with Hamide, hoping the connection would eventually help bring peace. “I knew from the beginning if we were going to be successful, it was going to be in the personal relationship that we developed. So I’m sure over the years that we talk, we talk about family, we talk about dreams and hopes, we talk about childhood.
After the October 7 attacks, Hamid appeared on Lebanese TV. He said: “We will teach Israel a lesson, and we will do this again and again.”
“It’s pretty wasteful,” Baskin said. “I already wrote him a letter in which I said I never want to talk to him.
“But a month later, my good friend from Palestine said, “You know, Gerson, you were wrong, because maybe your communication with Ghazi Hamid could live.” And I wrote to him again and said: “Ghazi, if talking with you can save human life, renew our connection I want He contacted me three weeks later and we’ve been in contact ever since.”
