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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Obama urges Israel to open Gaza borders |
| 2009-01-24 |
| President Barack Obama urged Israel on Thursday to open its borders with Gaza. I guess he can do that. It's not like he's responsible for the results. The plea came in a speech that signalled the new US administration’s shift from Bush-era policy on the Middle East and the world as a whole. In a high-profile address on his second day in office, just hours after he signed an executive order to close the centre at Guantánamo Bay, Mr Obama proclaimed that the US would “actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians” in the wake of this month’s Gaza war. “The outline for a durable ceasefire is clear: Hamas must end its rocket fire: Israel will complete the withdrawal of its forces from Gaza: the US and our partners will support a credible anti-smuggling and interdiction regime, so that Hamas cannot re-arm,” the US president said. “As part of a lasting ceasefire, Gaza’s border crossings should be open to allow the flow of aid and commerce, with an appropriate monitoring regime, with the international and Palestinian Authority participating.” Monitoring? Like not letting anything leave Gaza? And not letting anything that is weapons-related or dual-use or fungible enter Gaza? Like it is now? Mr Obama and Hillary Clinton, secretary of state, also announced the appointment of George Mitchell, as the US special envoy for the Arab-Israeli conflict and Richard Holbrooke, former US ambassador to the United Nations, as representative for Afghanistan-Pakistan. Suckers! The moves signalled another shift from the foreign policy of the Bush administration, which had resisted appointing a high-profile envoy for Middle East peace. He'll be back. Too bad we have to relearn this hard lesson every four or eight years. Although Condoleezza Rice, who finished her tenure as secretary of state this week, brokered a 2005 deal to allow open border crossings to Gaza, access was often shut down, with Israel citing security concerns and Hamas launching rocket attacks. The issue is set to test the authority of the new administration as it begins to grapple with the Middle East conflict. Before Mr Obama gave his speech, an Israeli official said there would be tough conditions for any lifting of the blockade, which he linked with the release of Gilad Shalit, a soldier held captive by Hamas since 2006. Yeah. Real tough. Like not killing Israelis. Me no get it. “If the opening of the passages strengthens Hamas we will not do it,” the official said. “We will make sure that all the [humanitarian] needs of the population will be met. But we will not be able to deal with Hamas on the other side. We will not do things that give legitimacy to Hamas.” You can't win there. They have the guns. Under its ceasefire, Hamas has given Israel until Sunday to open the borders. Much of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure has been destroyed during the three-week Israeli offensive and, without building materials and other supplies, there is little hope of rebuilding the water, sewage and power networks as well as private homes and key government buildings. But many foreign donors share Israel’s concerns that the reconstruction efforts should not be led by Hamas, or enhance the group’s legitimacy. Too late. They're already handing out money. They know they'll get it back. “Let me be clear: America is committed to Israel’s security and we will always support Israel’s right to defend itself against legitimate threats,” Mr Obama said. I wonder what that's going to translate into over the coming months. But in comments referring to the Gaza conflict he added: “I was deeply concerned by the loss of Palestinian and Israeli life in recent days and by the substantial suffering and humanitarian needs in Gaza. Our hearts go out to Palestinian civilians who are in need of immediate food, clean water, and basic medical care, and who’ve faced suffocating poverty for far too long.” I guess all of Zero's advisors have been dipping into the cool-aid, too. He called on Arab governments to “act on” the promise of a Saudi-led 2002 Arab peace initiative by supporting the Palestinian Authority headed by President Mahmoud Abbas “taking steps towards normalising relations with Israel, and by standing up to extremism that threatens us all.” They got a pretty sweet situation set up here. What are the chances that the Arabs are going to give it up? Hint: Look at the first letter of Obama's name. |
| Posted by:gorb |
| #13 Obama. Go to hell, you and your MSM (Marxist Socialist Media). |
| Posted by: Tyranysaurus Glusose3583 2009-01-24 17:07 |
| #12 Predictable rookie mistake to make an impossible goal a high-profile one as well. Since Obama can't deliver on his socioeconomic and Iraq agenda, he'll need to distract his public (most of whom, incidentally, are not Americans---the One is a Savior for the whole World). That is better than |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-01-24 14:49 |
| #11 I live 50 miles north of the Mexican border (Tucson,Az.). With all the tunnels, mules, and contraband packed SUV's coming in - I never realized the border was closed... |
| Posted by: borgboy 2009-01-24 13:36 |
| #10 It's almost certain that this will be an early failure for the twink. Predictable rookie mistake to make an impossible goal a high-profile one as well. The status quo ante was bad enough - couldn't be dressed up as anything good - and even that could be out of reach. "Appropriate monitoring regime". An excellent example of how these people, whatever their SAT scores or pedigrees, are just real-world-dummies. (and in O's case there's ample reason to doubt even the scores and grades were anything special) |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2009-01-24 12:49 |
| #9 Israel would be wise to ignore Zero. It would be wise to throw its own "O" down the stairs as well. |
| Posted by: regular joe 2009-01-24 12:45 |
| #8 Time for Olmert to tell The One to open the border with Messico. Please don't give O an excuse. |
| Posted by: DoDo 2009-01-24 10:58 |
| #7 I just don't get this sh*t about Israel being obligated to open the border with Gaza and supply them with food, electricity and attractive goats. Wasn't Gaza part of Egypt? Israel is no longer occupying it. Shouldn't Gaza now be an internal Egyptian problem? Let them open their border with them. |
| Posted by: Chemist 2009-01-24 10:51 |
| #6 I hope he dont become a muzzie sympathiser as the muslims would take this as weakness and exploit the usa!!!! |
| Posted by: Paul2 2009-01-24 08:51 |
| #5 "....aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians” in the wake of this month’s Gaza war." Israel has a "war" in Gaza, but the GWOT is no longer mentioned. Interesting, interesting indeed. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-01-24 08:40 |
| #4 "I was deeply concerned by the loss of Palestinian and Israeli life in recent days and by the substantial suffering and humanitarian needs in Gaza." But not concerned over years of rocketing of civilians on the Israeli side to make a point of it during the election, except behind close doors with Jewish donors [sorta like talking down all those bible thumping, gun totting, rednecks, while sharing a Cabernet with those fine wealthy donors in SanFran]. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-01-24 08:24 |
| #3 "I was deeply concerned by the loss of Palestinian and Israeli life in recent days and by the substantial suffering and humanitarian needs in Gaza." Back then I was in my 'one President at a time' phase and besides, the teleprompter was broken. |
| Posted by: WTF 2009-01-24 08:15 |
| #2 Time for Olmert to tell The One to open the border with Messico. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2009-01-24 08:03 |
| #1 That's not O.B. that's Brzesinski, Carter, Powell, and Kissinger speaking. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-01-24 07:08 |