Obama urges Israel to open Gaza borders President Barack Obama urged Israel on Thursday to open its borders with Gaza. 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.†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. 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. 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. “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.†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. “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. 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.†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.†source _______________ Sounds like Obama has a little something for everyone in here. All in all I think it sounds like a pretty reasonable way of trying to move forward. Of course, as with everything the devil is in the details.
The crux of what Obama said: “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.†“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. 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.â€
Sounds good. Getting both sides to agree and then sustain the agreements will be the bitch. Unfortunately it may only take a few idiots with homemade rockets to F it all up.
That is one of the biggest problems on the Palestinian side. There are some many groups and actors that even if the 'government' of Palestine took a position and wanted to stop the attacks on Israel, it is not clear they have that capacity or that some group would not take it upon themselves to attack Israel. The Palestinians have never been very good in their efforts to stop each other from attacking Israel. One only need to look at the problems now between Fatah and Hamas to understand that there need to be a unified Palestinian effort to achieve peace.
This is encouraging, Hamas on several occasions have said they are willing to stop all firing of rockets and mortars if Israel lift it's blockade, the illegal state of Israel had repeatedly said no, using another lame excuse that this would give Hamas a chance to smuggle weapons, the so-called WEAPONS the terrorists in Israel use as an excuse are mostly home-made rockets, and the so long blockade, has failed to stop them, as well as the last aggression that been in its most against civilians, it also did not success in stopping these rockets till the last day of the aggression.
In my home we make stuff like cookies and cakes, not rockets. Do you make rockets in your home? Don't pretend these are like kids toys, Hamas uses Grad rockets and is trying to constantly import more and more sophisticated rockets. Anyway, it is clear you are more about making excuses for war than trying to find ways to reach peace.
I have no idea, it could be and it could be not, the question is, even if they used, would the blockade stop rockets? assuming that there are imported rockets, and that the blockade stopped them, there will be still the home-made ones, so when the illegal state of Israel say that "we want to stop rockets" as an excuse for their aggression and blockade, they should be more accurate and say we want to "stop imported rockets".
I would not think it is so difficult to understand. Israel wants all rockets to stop being fired at Israel regardless of where they are from. And just so you know, Hamas proudly admits to importing rockets - something any peace deal must end. An aide to deposed Hamas prime minister Ismail Haneya Thursday said Iranian-made Grad rockets are smuggled into Gaza across the Mediterranean Sea and not through the underground tunnels with Egypt. “Grad rockets are long and sensitive and the Egyptian statements that these rockets don’t enter through its territories are true,†Ahmed Yousef, Haneya’s political advisor, told reporters in Gaza. Though Israel controls the sea, Palestinian armed groups “were able to bring that kind of rockets†into Gaza, Yousef said, noting that “the Palestinian resistance knows how to get the Grad rocketsâ€. source
you like to argue so much browntwn, what I said in my first post in this thread, is that Hamas already been willing to stop ALL rockets, mortars, whether they are imported or not, if Israel lift it's blockade. Israel use the "weapons smuggling" as an excuse to keep on the blockade, despite it has been proven that this blockade did not stop rockets, in its best it can success in stopping imported rockets if there were any, but there will still be the homemade ones.
You seem to miss the point. It is not good enough that Hamas stop firing rockets during a cease fire but continue to import them for later use. It is unacceptable for Hamas to have any rockets. As Obama said, "Hamas cannot re-arm"
Israel gets its weapons from the U.S and then those weapons are used to attack innocent civillians. Attacks which have been seen as war crimes by the UN. Why doesn't someone stop the supply of weapons from the US to Israel? It always seems to be a one way deal for Israel. They have rejected more UN resolutions then any other country. It's clear that their occupation of land is illegal. I guess this war will never stop until occupied land is returned. The war will just go on.
Good God could it really be this easy? I certainly hope so. BTW, some of you are forgetting it was Israel who broke the last long cease fire first, not Hamas. http://mx.youtube.com/watch?v=KntmpoRXFX4 Thanks.
The title is complete BS since it doesn't confirm anything. The truth is that there was not a complete and total cease fire that was abided by on both sides. Hamas still fired rockets(although a lot less in number) and Israel responded to what it felt were immediate security concerns by raiding an operation that was digging tunnels under the border. The point is, that peace was greater during the ceasefire period whether it was completely abided by on both sides or not. The greater point is that Hamas refused to renew the cease fire in mid december. This is not surprising since top Hamas leaders have said in the past that the only reason to agree to cease fires in the first place is to give them time to rearm so they can continue their fight to remove Israel from existence in order to satisfy their interpretation of their religion and to make their god happy.
Well, a lot of activists in my movement have been raising warning flags about Obama, suggesting that he will be too friendly with Israel and criticizing his silence on Gaza during the invasion. I'm beginning to have a different opinion...he is in a delicate position. He obviously won't make peace by offending Israel or his many Jewish supporters. In fact, Israel will accept his efforts if they don't feel he is biased against them. Somehow, he needs to be the diplomatic stimulus to bring both sides together for a lasting peace. This difficult job can only be done by looking forward. The endless recriminations and retaliations must give way to a spirit of compromise. How to stop the rockets? Give the Palestinian people such a fair deal that they will not support breaking the ceasefire or anyone who does so. Concessions must be made, aid given, economic development subsidized. There will have to be a hand up to the impoverished people. When the people of Gaza have a friend in Israel and the US, no party will be able to prosper on a platform of violence.
I hope that is true. Unfortunately, there are some who will not be satisfied with that and may ruin it for all sides - but hopefully they can be marginalized or eliminated. It is hard to convince people to compromise when they think they are doing God's bidding (Both Jews and Muslims)
Nothing would make me happier then to see that both sides can start taking steps so that they feel that they could trust one another. This would bring peace not only between the israelis and palestinians but also nullify groups like hezbolla that are using the palestinian situation to give legitimacy for them holding all of their weapons. I just hope that Obama means what he says, but i still say that Ron Pauls foreign policy would have worked best. Right now I think that both the israeli and palestinian people will accept this breadcrumb policy from Obama.