It was obvious Israel was taking advantage of the last days of Bush to wage their assault on Gaza

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. . . uncertain and pessimistic as they likely were about any support for the invasion from the incoming administration.

It's interesting to see them pulling back at almost the precise moment that Pres. Obama is ascending to office. At least for now, this should be a typical reaction of all of those abroad (and here at home) who had been advantaging themselves of a compliant and deliberately negligent leadership from the Bush White House to pull back and suspend their activity, at least long enough to assess how the new president might react and in anticipation of sharp changes in policy and assistance.

here's Israel pulling back from Gaza as the UN Secretary General takes a tour and makes his assessment of the situation on the ground . . .



GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - As residents of the Gaza Strip continued to sift through the rubble and mourn their dead, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon toured the seaside Palestinian enclave yesterday and declared himself "deeply grieved by what I have seen today."

Ban entered Gaza from Israel in a convoy of armored vehicles. Speaking to reporters in front of the smoldering remains of a U.N. food warehouse set ablaze last week by an Israeli tank shell, a somber Ban said he had witnessed "heartbreaking" scenes of destruction.

"I have seen only a fraction of the damage," he said. "This is shocking and alarming."


Israeli tanks and soldiers continued their withdrawal from Gaza yesterday, signaling an end to the devastating 22-day campaign against the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which seized control of Gaza from the rival Fatah faction in mid-2007.

Israeli officials had expressed a desire to be out of Gaza by the time Barack Obama was sworn in as the U.S. president, but it was unclear whether all Israeli forces had officially left ahead of the self-imposed deadline.

read: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/world/bal-te.gaza21jan...

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1. Would not it be interesting to see...

Would not it be interesting to see just how quickly they would make peace if we just cut off all of their funding?

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2. I heard that George Mitchell has agreed to be the top envoy

. . . he's not going to use a funding cutoff as a negotiating tool. He will, however, be an ideal envoy to convey the administration's intentions in a firm and respected manner.