Clinton Talks Dirty to Israel
Ha’aretz reported that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent messages to Israel expressing anger at Israel’s obstruction of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
“Israel is not making enough effort to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza,” senior U.S. officials told Israeli counterparts last week, and reiterated Washington’s view by saying that “the U.S. expects Israel to meet its commitments on this matter.”
Israel is letting in fewer than 200 trucks daily, which is double how many it was allowing a month ago. The U.S., the EU and the UN are demanding that at least 500 trucks carrying aid be allowed into the Strip daily, while some aid groups were calling for 900.
Israel’s absurd restrictions on what constitutes aid led to the bizarre banning of pasta from Gaza.
When Senator John Kerry visited, he learned that many trucks loaded with pasta were not permitted in. When the chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee inquired as to the reason for the delay, he was told by United Nations aid officials that “Israel does not define pasta as part of humanitarian aid – only rice shipments.”
The embargo is being upheld even to the detriment of basic needs because of the predominance of rightists in Israel who see Palestinian survival as “concessions” to Hamas. This does not seem to rest well with the Obama administration, nor should it if they expect to have any credibility as peacemakers.
Along with the American pledge of $900 million to Gaza rebuilding, we can see the Obama administration is committed to cleaning up Israel’s mess, or should I say crime scene.
The question arises, is Clinton just talking tough to project a new image of impartiality — after all which Israel is she talking to when the regime has no shape yet? It is like Hamas’s quandary of which Israel to recognize, Israel with occupation or Israel without it.
The best test of her and the new administration’s sincerity will be in Israeli action. Anyone who has seen US-Israeli relations over the years knows that when America really insists, Israel delivers. When American postures for public indulgance, and winks at Israel, little happens.
If the Obama administration is serious about it, the aid will flow. Still, we should just see it as part of the stage-show meant to prep the Palestinians for undignified surrender in the form of a two-state non-solution. That is not to say aid is good, it is just a substitute for ending the Israeli occupation. American policy would be credible if it called for Palestinian freedom rather than further aid dependency; the latter is leverage they will use against the Palestinians to push through the illusion of peace.
