Obama's damp squib on Palestine

There is a great piece in this morning's Indy by one of,in my opinion anyway,the best authorities on the Middle East Robert Fisk.

His attack on Barack Obama's handling of the Palestinian request for nationhood is quite brilliant.

Here are a couple of passages

A Martian listening to this speech would think that the Palestinians were occupying Israel rather than the other way round. No mention of Israeli occupation, no mention of refugees, or the right of return or of the theft of Arab Palestinian land by the Israeli government against all international law. But plenty of laments for the besieged people of Israel, rockets fired at their houses, suicide bombs – Palestinian sins, of course, but no reference to the carnage of Gaza, the massive death toll of Palestinians – and even the historical persecution of the Jewish people and the Holocaust.

In fact he quotes another writer Yael Sternhell

"The limp, unimaginative speech that US President Barack Obama delivered at the United Nations... reflects how helpless the American President is in the face of Middle East realities,

As Palestine prepares to hand in its formal request for UN recognition in just a few hours when President Mahmoud Abbas will deliver his historic address to the UN,the past few days have shown just have divided the world is on this issue.

America,as is usual,is standing firmly behind Israel and will use the US veto to block the Palestinian move at the security council and has been working overtime to discourage the application.

Britain and Europe however seem slowly to be warming to the idea.Both David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy have made conciliatory comments and William Hague has been warned that Britain’s improved status in the Middle East could be compromised if Britain takes Israel’s side at the UN.

Truth in Dubai-Fisk lifts the lid

The Independent's Robert Fisk rises above all the conspiracy headlines in this morning's papers over the Dubai affair.

Besides pointing out that Far too many police forces are now sending their minions to Israel to learn about "terror" he also says that

According to a Dubai "source" of The Independent – readers will have to judge what this means – the security forces of the aforesaid emirate informed a "British diplomat" in Dubai (presumably the consul, since the embassy is in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi) of the UK passport details almost six days ago and "did not receive an appropriate reply". If this is true – the Foreign Office will be wrathful in its denials – then why didn't the British immediately express their outrage at the use of forged British passports and cough up details of the equally outrageous frauds a week ago? This misuse puts every British citizen at risk.

Remembering Rachel Corrie

With the latest revelations about Israeli troops in the recent conflict in Gaza hitting the front pages this morning,it is worth reflecting that it is six years since the campaigner Rachel Corrie lost her life whilst satnding up for the Palestinian people.

Corrie was killed as she was dragged under an Israeli bulldozer whilst protesting against the destruction of Palestinian homes in the Gaza strip in circumstances that have still not been fully explained.

This is a report from the Palestinian moniter on the incident

"Rachel Corey 23 years old from the state of Washington, was killed while she was trying to prevent Israeli army bulldozers from destroying a Palestinian home. Other foreigners who were with her said the driver of the bulldozer was aware that Rachel was there, and continued to destroy the house. Initially he dropped sand and other heavy debris on her, then the bulldozer pushed her to the ground where it proceeded to drive over her, fracturing both of her arms, legs and skull. She was transferred to hospital, where she later died. Another foreigner was also injured in the attack and has been hospitalized - at this stage his nationality is unknown."

Is it now time to talk to Hamas

I blogged a few days ago about it being perhaps time for the United States to talk to the Taliban to create an impetus for change in Afghanistan.

Another pariah would be to talk to Hamas and begin a process of reconciliation in the Palestinian territories.

Roger Cohen believes that this may eb the way forward writing in the New York Times who says that

The Obama administration should also look carefully at how to reach moderate Hamas elements and engineer a Hamas-Fatah reconciliation.

Of course the critics will point to its charter and its non reconciliation of Israel but as Roger points out

it’s wrong to get hung up on the prior recognition of Israel issue. Perhaps Hamas is sincere in its calls for Israel’s disappearance — although it has offered a decades-long truce — but then it’s also possible that Israel in reality has no desire to see a Palestinian state.

It is also important to recognise that Hamas won a free and fair election in the territory.The fact that it was unwanted by the Americans does not make it any less legitimate

World Vision will not be getting another penny from Tim Montgomerie

Tim Montgomerie is not very happy with the charity World Vision after reading this in the Herald today

"Plans for closer ties between the European Union and Israel must be halted until there is a "comprehensive" ceasefire in the Gaza offensive, aid agencies demanded today... The coalition of agencies, including Oxfam, World Vision, Muslim Aid and Christian Aid, say Brussels should use ongoing talks on closer EU-Israel relations as a lever. An EU-Israel Association Agreement is being stepped up to "gradually integrate Israel into European policies and programmes", said the Commission. Under the deal, Israel is eligible for almost £13 million in EU "financial cooperation" in the next seven years... Daleep Mukarji, director of Christian Aid UK and Ireland, said: "Israel has shunned diplomatic efforts by the EU, and the EU's credibility is now at stake. It is inconceivable that we should extend further benefits of European partnership to a government that violates international humanitarian law and refuses negotiation in favour of continued violence. It is time for robust EU action to bring about an immediate ceasefire and end the violence on all sides."

Well everyone is entitled to their opinion but charities should be allowed a view and should speak up when they feel that things are wrong.

Anyway Tim will no longer be giving a penny to World Vision

Who broke the ceasefire in Gaza?

It worth reading Robin Lustig's post on the events in the Gaza strip.

He reminds us that

On 4 November, when much of the world was watching Barack Obama win the US presidential election, Israeli forces crossed into the Gaza Strip and killed six Hamas fighters. Israel says Hamas was building a tunnel under the border fence at Deir al-Balah which it intended to use to kidnap Israeli soldiers. Hamas responded by launching rockets and mortar shells into Israel.

190 to be exact

Whereas during the ceasefire these were the figures on launches

19-30 June: 9
July: 20
August: 17
September: 2
October: 2

Newspaper comment on the groundforces in Gaza

There is much debate in the papers this morning over the weekend's events in the Gaza strip

The Times leader uses the crisis to point fingers at the lack of leadership from the EU coming at a time when the Presidential changeover only now swings into effect.

Here was an opportunity for the EU to take a diplomatic lead. The interregnum in the US, where the serving President is seeing out his time but his successor is still 15 days from inauguration, created a diplomatic vacuum. Hostilities in Gaza demanded a mature and united diplomatic response. But behind the perfunctory call for a ceasefire issued on Saturday, what it saw instead was an unseemly squabble.

The Indy echoes the call

With neither Israel nor Hamas in any mood to countenance a ceasefire, however, it is also worth noting that appeals from the outside would carry more conviction if they also came with some positive and practical suggestions for what might happen next. So far, in public at least, constructive proposals have been conspicuous by their absence. Indeed, circumstances have almost conspired to leave the field for such initiatives vacant.

The Guardian beleives that Israel's eventual victory will be hollow

even if the Israeli army succeeds in its aims and destroys Hamas both as an army and as an organisation, it will have also destroyed the last remnants of government in the strip. Israel would have fought its way back to where it was in 1994, before the advent of the Palestinian authority, and back in direct control of Gaza. That is plainly not what it wants, because it would mean re-assuming control of 1.5 million Gazans as well. Putting a proxy Palestinian government in place would be just as fraught. Destroying the infrastructure of Hamas's rule in Gaza would also wreck the effective government on which any future ceasefire would depend. To take one small but relevant example, half of Gaza's ambulances have already been destroyed.

The Telegraph recognises that

A determined enemy lies concealed in Gaza's tangled warren of alleys and, for the first time, the struggle will now be on relatively equal terms, creating a significant danger of heavy losses among Israeli forces. This makes it all the more imperative for the government to set out clear goals, achieve them with minimum loss of life on both sides and then leave Gaza as swiftly as possible.

However

Sadly, Mr Olmert has allowed a degree of confusion about his country's war aims to emerge. Fighting talk from his defence minister, Ehud Barak, of a "war to the bitter end" has given the impression that Israel seeks to destroy Hamas or, at the very least, overthrow its administration in Gaza. In reality, Israel's war aims are almost certainly confined to halting the rocket attacks which have sown such misery in its southern cities. Mr Olmert should make clear that this defensive measure is the only objective.

The Mail has

grave doubts, too, over the likely consequences of the invasion for the Israeli people themselves.

and asks

Isn’t there a strong risk that, far from making them safer, it will subject them to even greater danger in the long term, by heightening tensions in the region?

Some blogging perspective on the Gazan attacks

It is difficult to find any sympathy for Israel after the events of the last few days.

No matter what the provocation,the seemingly endless bombing of civilian targets in this day and age is fairly inexusable.

Israel will point to the breakdown in the ceasefire and the luanching of rockets on its own civilians by Hamas.

The best perspective on the violence is to look at the Global voices website which as on many past occassions gives a bloggers insight into both sides of the tale.

This from an Israeli blogger

My feelings about what happened in Gaza yesterday: I feel very sad that it had
to be that way. But it had to be that way. We can't let rockets rain down on our
citizens and do nothing. I look forward to the day -- may I live to see it --
when the Palestinian leadership figures out what "compromise" and "good
leadership" and "promises" and "tolerance" actually mean. I'd really like for
our army to have nothing to do. That would be fantastic

And this from a Gazan currently in the USA but talking about the experience of the in laws

I was out in the souk when the strikes began- I saw the missiles falling and
prayed; the earth shook; the smoke rose; the ambulances screamed" he said, the
sirens audible in the background. he was on talateeni street at the time of the
attacks, just a few streets down from one of the attack sites.My mother was in
the Red Crescent Society clinic near the universities at the time of the initial
wave of attacks, where she works part-time as a pediatrician. Behind the clinic
was one of the police centers that was leveled. She said she broke down at
first, the sheer proximity of the attacks having shaken her from the inside out.
After she got a hold of herself, they took to treating injured victims of the
attack, before they transferred them to Shifa hospital