The New Nation - Internet Edition

Dr.Abdul Ruff

Notwithstanding the efforts from the USA to find a lasting solution to Middle East turmoil by establishing a Palestine state to exist side-by-side with its arch foe that keeps killing innocent Palestinians in its air-strikes and ground attacks conducted intermittently, Israel has once again invaded the Gaza territory of defenseless Palestinians, many of them civilians. In protest, Palestinian (Fatah) President Mahmoud president Abbas called off negotiations with the Israelis in response to the Gaza attacks. This generated world wide criticism and many nations requested US to quickly intervene to stop Israeli air-strikes in Gaza. With a view to reducing tensions in Gaza, US President George W. Bush dutifully dispatched his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the region.

Thus, on a two-day trip to meet the leaders of Egypt, Israel and Palestine (Fatah), the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived first in Egypt on March 03 at the start of a regional tour with hopes for an Israeli Palestinian peace deal hit hard by an escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip by the latest Israeli invasion killing over 120 innocent Palestinians, including a baby, which was killed by a ricocheting bullet. Condoleezza Rice met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, his Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit and the intelligence supremo Omar Suleiman, who had on that day cancelled a trip to Israel in protest at Israel's Gaza offensive. Rice has reportedly requested Mubarak to mediate between Israel and Hams on behalf of USA for diffusing the situation for the time being. Following the swift visit by US secretary of State, Rice, Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza leading to the victory claim by Hamas Palestinians.

"I continue to believe that they can get to a deal by the end of the year," Rice said in the plane taking her to Cairo. US now seems to be a bit serious about the peace deal after the Annapolis meet and the Rice visit was meant to move Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations forward, following a commitment by both sides at a conference in November in the US. Rice has been calling for the resumption of peace talks as soon as possible, saying they were necessary to counter Hamas' influence. Rice followed up meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by urging their top negotiators and Israel's defense chief to get negotiations launched in Annapolis last November back on track. "The key is to make certain that the peace process continues," Rice said. A visibly disturbed Condoleezza Rice met Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert late on 04 March and held discussed the Israeli aggression with him. Rice, as a major departure form the standard US policy of hailing every terrorist attack Israel on Palestinians, has urged Israel to take more care not to kill civilians in its military operations. Rice also met Foreign and Defence Ministers Tzipi Livni and Ehud Barak, who also served as premier of Israel before Olmert took over from, the next day, before leaving for Brussels for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers. Tzipi Livni has been leading talks with Palestinian leaders for the Israelis.

The secretary of state, however, refrained from openly criticizing Israel over its Operation Hot Winter which claimed dozens of Palestinian lives in the space of two days in the Gaza Strip, including women and children, noting that the onslaught was in self defense. Condoleezza Rice wound up a two-day trip to the region that hoped to revive peace talks. Funerals were held on 03 March for the Palestinians killed in the fighting, while Hamas called a rally in Gaza City. But despite the defiance, Palestinians do not believe this is the last of the violence and are steering themselves for more bloodshed, says the BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Gaza. There were anti-Israeli demonstrations across the West Bank.

Rice stressed her confidence in the chances of success for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process launched in November at Annapolis, but, however, bent on blaming Hamas - perhaps for tactical reason of keeping Israelis in good humors, for the recent burst of violence in the Middle East. "The Annapolis process is hardly underway. We are three months intI am going to have discussions with the Egyptians, with the Palestinians and with the Israelis about how you might get violence to stop. But first and foremost Hamas needs to stop firing rockets into Israeli cities," she said referring to the ruling Islamist group in the Gaza Strip. "Obviously the situation in Gaza is one that is concerning," Rice went on. But t we need to continue to work, first of all to make certain that everyone understands that Hamas is doing what might be expected, which is using attacks, rocket attacks on Israel to try to arrest a peace process in which they have nothing to gain." She merely called on the Israelis, however, to allow the resumption of humanitarian aid into Gaza, saying: "One, again, has to think in carrying out military operations, about the day after."

The objective of intermittent air-strikes in Palestine, certainly, is to weaken Hamas and coerce them to accept any deal that is offered to them by Israel. Immediately after the departure of Rice, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned that the withdrawal of troops from Gaza did not mean Israel's military operation there is over. Israel had called a "two-day interval" while US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits Jerusalem and Ramallah in the West Bank. Olmert said that everything is possible, including air strikes, ground strikes "and special operations are all being discussed". Israeli forces pulled out overnight, several days after entering Gaza to try to suppress rocket fire. But, as it is a known Israeli strategy, Olmert neatly warned: "What happened in recent days was not a one-off event."

The Palestinian political group Hamas claimed victory over Israeli forces and held a rally in Gaza City, without even realizing the fact that they were in fact celebrating the death of 120 innocent Palestinian deaths killed by Israeli forces through state terror unleashed to silence the Palestinians to and weaken the Fatah faction so as to bully them to agree with the Israeli position. The Israelis seem to suggest that USA cannot stop the Israeli genocide of Palestinians, irrespective of the world opinion against them. And, however, Israeli forces again briefly re-entered the Gaza Strip and clashed with Palestinians, with two people killed by gunfire. Israeli ground forces and Hamas defense forces clashed inside the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, a day after Israel said it was ending its five-day incursion to end Hamas' cross-border rocket attacks.

Palestinians have complained at the slow pace of talks, accusing the Israelis of failing to carry out promises to ease checkpoints and other security restrictions in the West Bank and of not curbing new Jewish settlement activity. Palestinian negotiators Ahmed Qurei and Saeb Erekat met Rice early on 04 March and pushed her to put more pressure on Israel, a close U.S. ally. Speaking in the West Bank, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who has formally suspended contacts with Israel in protest at its operation in Gaza, resisted US pressure to resume peace talks given events in Gaza, which is under control of the militant Hamas movement. "I call on the Israeli government to halt its aggression so the necessary environment can be created to make negotiations succeed, for us and for them, to reach the shores of peace in 2008," Abbas said. Despite the misgivings of many Middle East experts, both Rice and President George W. Bush are optimistic they will get a deal before the end of Bush's term in January 2009. "People have been trying to do this for a long time and it has not happened but t there is a great resoluteness on behalf of the president and myself," Rice said in Ramallah. U.S. officials said Rice told Israeli defense Minister Ehud Barak that, while she respected Israel's right to defend itself, Palestinians needed to see improvements on the ground if they were to stay committed to the peace process. She slammed the Israelis for the deaths of innocent people in Gaza during Israeli attacks have been civilians.

Terribly upset over mischief and the rough behavior of Israelis, Abbas gave Rice no public commitment that he would return to the talks, which he suspended last Sunday in protest at an Israeli operation in Gaza that has killed more than 120 Palestinians. "I call on the Israeli government to halt its aggression," Abbas said at a news conference with Rice. U.S. officials said they understood it was not politically feasible for Abbas to make an announcement during Rice's visit and there needed to be a calmer situation on the ground and greater assurances from the Israelis. But the USA and Egypt are at work to pressure Abbas and he has finally accepted to resume negotiations soon. Of course, considering the urgency of the issue, the latest statement of Abbas signals a positive step form his side.

The outcome of Rice visit is significant: the Israeli government has ordered its military to reduce its operations in the Gaza Strip. Israeli claims it is because of a sharp drop in rocket fire from Palestinian territory. The Israelis and Palestinian officials from the Hamas faction, who controls Gaza, said no formal ceasefire had been agreed but that talks were under way. There has been no official statement from the Israeli government about the order to scale back military operations in Gaza, but Olmert said he was determined for peace talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to continue. "We will not give up on this effort to make another step - a significant, important, dramatic step - which could bring us closer to the chance of real reconciliation with our Palestinian neighbors, and to the building of the foundations of real peace between us and them," he said at a conference in Jerusalem.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, settling about 400,000 Jews in the area, including East Jerusalem. Settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has approved a plan to build up to 750 new homes in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. The project was first signed off in 1999, but stopped two years later after Palestinian laborers refused to go on. Israel's housing minister said the construction at Givat Zeev would address "the demographic needs of Jerusalem". But the decision provoked an angry reaction from Palestinian leaders.

For the Palestinians there are few issues as contentious as the building of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Under the terms of the peace process settlement expansion is supposed to be frozen. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the latest decision raised doubts about Israel's commitment to peace talks. "It will undermine the US effort to revive the negotiations." Israel Radio said the decision to restart the development was pushed by the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, which had threatened to quit the government coalition unless the construction was approved.

Meanwhile, under US pressure, Egypt has stepped up efforts to mediate between the Israelis and Hamas. A senior Israeli defence ministry official returned on March 09 from talks in Cairo with Egyptian officials, a few days after a similar mission by Hamas officials. Since June last year, the Palestinian leadership has been split between Hamas in Gaza and the more moderate Fatah of Abbas in the West Bank. Abbas and Olmert have been engaged in peace talks launched by the US last November with the goal of establishing an independent Palestinian state by the end of the year.

It seems the talks between Israeli and Fatah leaders could resume next week. Israel refuses to talk directly to Hamas because the Islamist Hamas group refuses to acknowledge Israel's right to exist. But without Hams, the elected representatives of Palestinians, the issue would continue to remain unresolved. USA cannot pretend ignorant of this simple fact.