Monday, March 02, 2009
Achieving a "comprehensive peace" - one pointless conference at a time
Imagine if Washington Post writer Glenn Kessler had been covering post-war Japan:
“Japan…was devastated by a recent 3-year war between the US and Japan, launched by the US after trade talks broke down and Japan bombed the crap out of Pearl Harbor.”
But instead he covers the Mideast so today we‘re treated to insights such as this:
“Gaza…was devastated by a recent 22-day war between Israel and Hamas, launched by Israel after a cease-fire broke down and Hamas rockets rained down over Israeli towns.”
All part of his fawning coverage as Clinton Pursues 'Comprehensive Peace' in Mideast.
“Clinton, as expected, announced $300 million in humanitarian relief for Gaza, which is controlled by the militant group Hamas, and $600 million in aid for the Palestinian Authority, which is run by Fatah, a rival Palestinian faction. She cast the funding as an effort to help all Palestinians, not to divide them, although there are strict limits on the funds to prevent any from reaching Hamas. The funds must be approved by Congress.”
Even with all the audacity of hope I can muster, I still think it’ll be hard to get aid to Hamas-controlled Gaza without Hamas touching it. But nothing says the pointlessness of this exercise quite like this little factoid:
A collection of professional politicians and diplomats (oh yeah, and people from the UN, too) gather to raise funds so as to get aid through Israeli-controlled crossings into Hamas-controlled Gaza and…
“Neither Israel nor Hamas was invited to the conference..."
Side Note: “At the one-day conference, Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Authority prime minister, estimated that more than 4,000 homes were destroyed during the conflict and 11,500 were damaged. Fixing homes and infrastructure in Gaza would cost $501 million, Fayyad said.”
Of course, Mr. Fayyad’s guess is as good as yours since he has no standing in Gaza and spends no time there. Even his position as Prime Minister is suspect as to legality. (President M. Abbas appointed him which is not the way it’s supposed to happen.)
“Japan…was devastated by a recent 3-year war between the US and Japan, launched by the US after trade talks broke down and Japan bombed the crap out of Pearl Harbor.”
But instead he covers the Mideast so today we‘re treated to insights such as this:
“Gaza…was devastated by a recent 22-day war between Israel and Hamas, launched by Israel after a cease-fire broke down and Hamas rockets rained down over Israeli towns.”
All part of his fawning coverage as Clinton Pursues 'Comprehensive Peace' in Mideast.
“Clinton, as expected, announced $300 million in humanitarian relief for Gaza, which is controlled by the militant group Hamas, and $600 million in aid for the Palestinian Authority, which is run by Fatah, a rival Palestinian faction. She cast the funding as an effort to help all Palestinians, not to divide them, although there are strict limits on the funds to prevent any from reaching Hamas. The funds must be approved by Congress.”
Even with all the audacity of hope I can muster, I still think it’ll be hard to get aid to Hamas-controlled Gaza without Hamas touching it. But nothing says the pointlessness of this exercise quite like this little factoid:
A collection of professional politicians and diplomats (oh yeah, and people from the UN, too) gather to raise funds so as to get aid through Israeli-controlled crossings into Hamas-controlled Gaza and…
“Neither Israel nor Hamas was invited to the conference..."
Side Note: “At the one-day conference, Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Authority prime minister, estimated that more than 4,000 homes were destroyed during the conflict and 11,500 were damaged. Fixing homes and infrastructure in Gaza would cost $501 million, Fayyad said.”
Of course, Mr. Fayyad’s guess is as good as yours since he has no standing in Gaza and spends no time there. Even his position as Prime Minister is suspect as to legality. (President M. Abbas appointed him which is not the way it’s supposed to happen.)
