BBC: US tacitly backs Israel offensive

[seafan]

US tacitly backs Israel offensive

By Kim Ghattas
BBC News, Washington

29 December 2008

The White House has given its tacit backing to Israel's military operation against Hamas and the Gaza Strip, a flare-up that is threatening to seriously complicate any peace efforts envisaged by the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama.

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"The United States understands that Israel needs to take actions to defend itself," said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
"In order for the violence to stop, Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel and agree to respect a sustainable and durable ceasefire."
It is an attitude that is very similar to the one adopted by the Bush administration during the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon - calling for a sustainable cease-fire and a lasting peace rather than pressuring Israel to immediately halt a military operation that was killing civilians.

Short of a dramatic development, observers expect no shift in this position - or the administration's support for Israel - during the remaining three weeks of President George W Bush's term in office.
Mr Bush has not made any public comments so far, and neither has his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice. ..... The flare-up also highlights the failure of Mr Bush to bring about a peace agreement between Palestinians and Israelis.
After he launched his ambition Annapolis peace initiative in 2007, few believed anything concrete would come out of it, but some argued that at least Mr Bush was leaving behind a work-in-progress, with relative calm on the ground.
Instead, the last few weeks of his presidency will be mired in yet another crisis - the biggest Israeli offensive against Gaza in decades.

While the escalation was pegged to a date - the end of a six-month cease-fire on 19 December - both the Israelis and Hamas seem to be using the political calendar in Israel and the US to reshuffle the cards before the next administration comes in.
Israeli officials know they can count on the Bush administration's support but are less sure about how an Obama administration would have reacted were they to have launched this operation after 20 January.
Mr Senor also argued that Israel did not want a flare-up in Gaza to be the first issue that Mr Obama would have to contend with when he moved into the White House.
"There was a sense in Israel that action was needed as the cease-fire was set to expire and they had to either move quickly or wait a long time - four or six months - and that was not something Israel could deal with," he said. ..... But the developments are on such a scale that even if calm returns in a few days, the crisis will have an impact, possibly even regional, that will last beyond 20 January, so the Middle East is forcing itself high onto the agenda of the incoming administration. ..... Israel's military operation in Gaza is also likely to limit his room for manoeuvre and diplomacy, at least in the beginning.

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Steve Coll, a senior CFR fellow on Middle Eastern studies, said the Israelis were trying to do everything they could to get political cover from the incoming administration by highlighting statements by the president-elect, such as the one he made in August in Sderot, the Israeli town targeted by Hamas rocket attacks.
"If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop that," said Mr Obama during the visit. "And I would expect Israelis to do the same thing."

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[monmouth]

1. Looks like Obama, again, very smartly waited for the WH to state their

position. I think they were waiting him out... Silly people..

[lordcommander]

2. Exactly

he didn't want to jump the gun to respond this situation before the WH could do so.