Gaza And Diplomacy

The Current And Incoming Administrations Are Being Forced To Pay Urgent Attention To The War Between Israel And Hamas

(CBS)  Background and analysis by CBS News State Department reporter Charles Wolfson.

---

The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is something neither the outgoing Bush administration wanted nor the incoming Obama administration needed. Nevertheless, both are being forced to pay even more urgent attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than they otherwise might have.

The outgoing Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, spent three days at the U N this week doing the nitty gritty work of negotiating the wording on a Security Council resolution the Bush administration really didn’t want but was convinced to accept. That said, Rice ended up abstaining when it came time to vote. Sr. state department officials and Rice herself defended the diplomatic tactics and said Arab diplomats understood the logic of verbal support for the resolution without casting an affirmative vote. Others had trouble following the so-called logic train of Rice’s actions. Chalk it up to fielding yet another curve ball from Hamas.

Hamas’ role in the Israel-Palestinian conflict has constantly bedeviled the Bush administration’s diplomatic efforts and it has refused to deal with Hamas because it has been declared a terrorist organization. Thus Rice’s Middle East policy has been carried out by trying to ignore the group, as if it had no influence on peacemaking. Whether the ongoing fighting is a direct or an indirect result of this policy is not the issue now.

What is critical is working out a satisfactory way to stop the fighting, at least temporarily, so that the humanitarian crisis for the civilian population in Gaza can be dealt with. It was the urgency of the humanitarian situation--- with more than 750 dead and several thousand injured--- which forced Rice and her fellow foreign ministers to be at the UN this week.

While the Security Council debated the resolution, which passed 14-0 with Washington abstaining, other, more critical, diplomatic efforts were ongoing in Cairo. President Hosni Mubarek’s government, which has its own problems with Hamas, has been playing a key role in trying to negotiate the details of what would constitute a workable, long term cease fire. Representatives of Hamas and Israel went to Cairo for separate consultations and Rice included senior Egyptian officials in her efforts.

Nabil Fahmy, Egypt’s former ambassador to Washington, who is now back in Cairo and still in the government although not directly involved in the negotiations, said his government’s discussions with officials from Hamas are a necessary element of obtaining a workable cease fire: “they came here for a purpose and we received them for a purpose.” Egypt, Fahmy said, is “looking to establish a quick cease fire (for humanitarian purposes) and then work to sustain it.”

What is apparent, almost 24 hours after the Security Council vote, is that the fighting has not stopped. Neither Hamas nor Israel has heeded the call for a cease fire from New York. The talks in Cairo and consultations in other capitals continue.

This would seem to leave the incoming Obama administration with a third "hot" war---along with Iraq and Afghanistan-- going on as it comes into office. While there is some speculation the new team of officials might be interested in establishing some contacts with Hamas, that may not happen at all and almost certainly will not play a part in getting to a meaningful cease fire. And Robert Satloff of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy says talking with Hamas is not a good idea under any circumstances. “It would destroy any hope that remains for a two state solution between Israel and the Palestinians (Hamas doesn’t recognize Israel’s right to be a state and hasn’t signed on to agreements negotiated by the Palestinian Authority)….it would undercut our two moderate Arab partners, Egypt and Jordan and it would embolden bad actors from Beirut to Tehran and those in the caves of FATA and Pakistan.”

How President-elect Barack Obama and his national security team deal with Hamas is obviously something not yet fully determined although the person tapped to be his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, said on June 4, 2008, “Here is how I feel: until Hamas renounces terrorism and recognizes Israel, negotiating with Hamas is unacceptable to the United States.”

So merely picking up where the Bush/Rice Annapolis process left off is no longer limited to the relative niceties of diplomatic negotiations. All of the humanitarian misery, the problem of how to stop the smuggling of weapons into Gaza through tunnels from Egypt, the firing of rockets by Hamas into Israel and the opening of crossing points to allow trade to take place now falls, in the words of Aaron David Miller, author of “The Much Too Promised Land, ” into Barack Obama’s in box. “This is,” says Miller, “the Arab-Israeli peace process for the next six months.”

[jsw131]

You say it isn''t about race or religion, then give me the same rhetoric that has kept this war going for centuries. Ok I get it, I know only one of them is wrong, it%u2019s just about land or money or anything but race and religion.

Until they stop looking to the past to fuel their hate and until they learn to tolerate other people, they%u2019re gonna keep warring, and we can%u2019t do anything about it.

You say the war is based on a false 2,000 year-old land claim, they came from Egypt and there never was a state of Israel. That may be, but now they%u2019ve both lived in the same area for centuries.

Say by some miracle Israel gives up their claim to the land, where are they gonna move? The rest of the world has been divided up, so are they gonna be given another plot of land or would they have to start another war with some other country to try to get a place to live?

In America possession is 9/10ths of the law, so I say leave the border where it is today, make 2 separate countries, and if they eventually decide to grow the f*@% up and become adults instead of a bunch of cry babies who''ve got to have their way, maybe then they could start to merge into one tolerant country.

& as long as people keep trying to defend one side or the other, nothing is going to improve, they are both responsible for this, neither one is without fault, one may have been more oppressed than the other, but guess what life isn%u2019t fair. Forgive & forget the past, and work on making a better future.

[jsw131]

I understand it%u2019s about both of them fighting over land, they both think this %u2018holy land%u2019 is their divine right, but how many centuries has this been going on? If it%u2019s not about race or religion or hate, then why can%u2019t they just become a melting pot like America and live in and amongst each other?

Would you rather coexist peacefully with people of a different religion or would you rather live separated from the world exchanging bombs on a daily basis because you%u2019re too intolerant to allow other people on %u2018your land%u2019 who believe in something else different from you?

God knows we have our problems in America, but all of our different races and religions can live side by side here without lobbing bombs at each other every other day. If we can do it, why can%u2019t they?

If the Indians that we stole all our land from had better weapons than bows and arrows, maybe we would be in the same situation, but they didn%u2019t and so we were able to take it all, but look what happened, now Indians can again walk around in public without the fear of being bombed, and they have the right to believe in what ever spirits they want to.

When Americans have differences, we recognize those differences, accept that there will always be differences, and we become a stronger nation because of all of the diversity.

Debate is better than war, but they are so fanatical about their religions over there that they can%u2019t debate without it ending up in a war.

[demsts]

The Israeli invasion/occupation of Gaza and war on Palestinians and Lebanese is NOT about race or religion.
It is about LAND. Israel wants land that belongs to other people.
Her wars are based on a false 2,000 year-old land claim actually they came from Egypt and there never was a state of Israel).
These same demands were used by Nazi Germany to excuse their invasion of Poland and other neighbors in 1939.
Fascists are the same everywhere. They take what they want and believe they have a divine right to destroy anyone who might be weaker than they.
Germany miscalculated twice as did Japan.
Israel could do nothing without backing of the world''s biggest power--the USA.
That is why we are hated worldwide.

[mikaere-2009]

Unfortunately, people dont know what the elected govt of Gaza, the Hamas wants or will do because Israel has been their voice--Having returned from Gaza several months ago, and having talked with government officials, there is a HUGE misconception. One--they wont recognized Israel until they stop stealing land (continues to happen) Several militant groups were lobbying these home-made things over the wall --killing 15 ple in 8 yrs--as a protest to the illegal blockade of Gaza. Int he meantime, Israel killed 1000+ Gazans in the same time period. Gaza is an open air prison. No one can come in or out without an Israeli soldier''s permission and that is basically rare--food, medicine shortages, water shortages--A cease fire was agreed upon in June 2008. Israel was to ease the blockade but that didnt happen. So after Israel broke the truce of 4 months, the rockets started again. The occupier picks the policies by the way. The media is shameful.

[jsw131]

i love the idea of the world cutting them off, it''s kind of hard to fund a war with out funds, but wouldn''t mind seeing them take it a step further and cut off all humanitarian aid too.

All the aid seems to do is keep the local populations complacent, while they may not enjoy getting blown up, they''re used to it, so as long as they keep getting their bread and water, they seem to be content to muddle through miserable existence.

However, if the people can''t muddle through life when the handouts are gone, then i see 2 main things that could happen. (1) they''re forced into an all out war for survival and one of them wipes the other out, problem solved, or (2) the peasants will band together when they realize no one is gonna save them this time and they might realize they have to actually work towards a real peace if they don''t want option 1 to happen.

and before you say that''s mean, i know it is, but sometimes you have to show a little tough love so they can figure it out themselves, and by letting them continue theirs lives in this way by providing food and medical supplies, we are just helping elongate the conflict.

btw i will concede that on this one i could be completely wrong, and i know i''m way over simplifying the situation, but it''s a thought.

[ubrew12]

I think the only reason this conflict goes ON and ON and ON is money.

''freedom fighter/terrorist'' (take your pick) Yassir Arafat died one of the richest men on the planet (worth over 4 billion dollars).

Do the math. Too many people make too much money by keeping this conflict going. The only real solution is for the rest of us to stop caring, and especially, stop sending either side money out of our ''concern''. But I actually think that applies more to the Arab side than the Israeli.

Who''s the prime minister of Israel? (see, I already don''t care) That guy is an Arab terrorists BEST FRIEND. Money will be flowing in for decades to come, and some fraction of it will buy fresh blood. Way to go, moron. Must have taken a page from GW Bush''s ''Blueprint for Success''. LOL.

[jsw131]

and i actually like the term ''racism'' used here, bigotry doesn''t have the same power behind it, and they just aren''t getting it.

i actually think one of the great things about our world is the great diversity, be kind of boring if everyone had the same opinion all the time. And with as many people as there are in this world, there is no way you will ever get everyone to have faith in the same thing. why do you think the crusades, and every other ''holy war'' has failed?

you can not get everyone to give up there beliefs and faith to switch to a mandated religion that is being forced on them, and until they realize that, and realize that everyone doesn''t have to follow what they believe in and that that is ok, nothing will ever change.

what, we''ll get another cease fire for a 6 months maybe a year or 2 at the most before they''re back at it again, and that''s because they don''t get that what they are doing is wrong, they both think they are 100% in the right because it''s what their ''god'' commands. maybe if people started calling it what it is in the strongest terms, they might start to wake up and it might at least be a start.

[jsw131]

Sorry i ran out of characters in the last comment, it is cultural racism, you can get technical and say that they come from the same race so it can''t be racism, and you''d be technically right. but guess what we all evolve from the same starting group of people, so if you go back far enough you''d be able to say that racism doesn''t exist at all if you believe that.

But when i think of racism, i think of people hating another group of people because they are different and they don''t understand and won''t take the time to empathize with the other group of people to see things from a differnt point of view than their closed off view of the world.

And how is that not what is happening? Maybe bigotry would be a more correct term, but either way it''s people hating another group of people that are different for no better reason than they are different.

[voidmaster-2009]

Actually, racism does not even apply here. Israelis and Palestinians are both descended from a common ancestry. They are both Semites.

[jsw131]

Religion is the problem.

It''s ridiculous! They spend their lives blowing each other up because "god" told them both that some crappy plot of land in a desert was theirs, but it%u2019s kinda hard to verify since no one is alive from when god came down from the heavens to let them know that. So they spend their lives fighting over a scrap of sand instead of building up their desert oasis into something that would be beneficial to the world.

If you take away religion what exactly do they have to fight about?

Image how great this world could be if people started treating all people with respect, instead of acting like a bunch of spoiled step children fighting over a holy inheritance from a bitter great great godfather who wrote 13 different wills just to screw with us, and imagine if people started taking a little personal responsibility for the state of their lives and the consequences of their actions instead of blaming all their misfortunes on a god that was mad at them.

I know if I go out drinking one night and wake up with a hangover in the morning, it%u2019s not god hating me, even though it may feel like it, it%u2019s actually MY FAULT for doing those 8 extra shots last night that I obviously didn%u2019t really need.

Religion has become nothing more than a scapegoat for cultural racism. Since they have similar looking skin color they have to use religion as their excuse to hate each other since the term "racism" only seems to be reserve for rednecks who hate black people.

[jsw131]

Religion is the problem.

It''s ridiculous! They spend their lives blowing each other up because "god" told them both that some crappy plot of land in a desert was theirs, but it%u2019s kinda hard to verify since no one is alive from when god came down from the heavens to let them know that. So they spend their lives fighting over a scrap of sand instead of building up their desert oasis into something that would be beneficial to the world.

If you take away religion what exactly do they have to fight about?

Image how great this world could be if people started treating all people with respect, instead of acting like a bunch of spoiled step children fighting over a holy inheritance from a bitter great great godfather who wrote 13 different wills just to screw with us, and imagine if people started taking a little personal responsibility for the state of their lives and the consequences of their actions instead of blaming all their misfortunes on a god that was mad at them.

I know if I go out drinking one night and wake up with a hangover in the morning, it%u2019s not god hating me, even though it may feel like it, it%u2019s actually MY FAULT for doing those 8 extra shots last night that I obviously didn%u2019t really need.

Religion has become nothing more than a scapegoat for cultural racism. Since they have similar looking skin color they have to use religion as their excuse to hate each other since the term "racism" only seems to be reserve for rednecks who hate black people.

[d33pthroat1]

Although Hamas indeed does not recognize Israel, it *has* stated that it is willing to a long-term cease fire with Israel and suspend all terror activities. The condition being that Israel remove the Gaza blockade and make life a little easier for the people there.

It is unfortunate that the hard-headed Hamas is not accepting a two-state solution. However, I am not sure why the US/Israel keep getting stuck on this point. Let Hamas not recognize Israel. Does it really matter? What matters is peaceful co-existence.

Unfortunately, Israeli military action is counterproductive because it kills innocent civilians and brings Hamas more support.

Hillary''s statement was not encouraging. It does seem to just pick off from where Rice/Bush left off. Unlike Hillary, I hope Obama is willing to be more flexible and can come up with a practical compromise.

Some very good op-eds on this subject from NYT are here. Please read them for a better perspective.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/opinion/08khalidi.html?ref=opinion

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/opinion/08lichfield.html?ref=opinion

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/opinion/08kristof.html?ref=opinion