Middle East expert Ian Parmeter joins Mark Kenny to explain what is going on in Gaza – including the context for the current conflict and where to next?  In light of the recent Israeli declaration of a 10 March deadline for the return of all hostages, how can negotiations looking to de-escalate the violence in Gaza move forward? What would a strategic victory look like for any of the actors? And what happens next? On this episode of Democracy Sausage, Middle East expert Ian Parmeter, from the ANU Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies, and Professor Mark Kenny discuss the complex, contested, polarising and - in some cases for the West - compromising crisis in the Middle East.  Ian Parmeter is a Research Scholar at the ANU Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies. Previously, he was Australia’s ambassador to Lebanon and former Assistant Director-General at the Office of National Assessments.   Mark Kenny is a Professor at the ANU Australian Studies Institute. He came to the University after a high-profile journalistic career including six years as chief political correspondent and national affairs editor for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times.   Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We’d love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to [email protected].    This podcast is produced by The Australian National University.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.