Senator Kerry Visits Gaza

Senator John Kerry visits Gaza

GAZA CITY (AFP) – US Senator John Kerry made a rare visit to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, but stressed this did not reflect a change of policy towards the territory’s Islamist rulers listed by Washington as a terror group.

His first stop in the impoverished Palestinian enclave was the American school left in ruins by the deadly 22-day Israeli offensive that ended on January 18.

Talking to a Palestinian lawyer amid the dust and rubble, Kerry defended Israel for responding to almost daily rocket attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups.

“Your political leadership needs to understand that any nation that has rockets coming into it over many years, threatening its citizens, is going to respond,” Kerry told Shar Habeel al-Zaim.

Kerry briefly toured Izzbet Abed Rabbo, a northern Gaza community ravaged by the Israeli offensive and held talks with UN officials in Gaza City.

His visit coincided with a similar trip by Democratic US representatives Brian Baird and Keith Ellison, who expressed dismay at the plight of the overpopulated coastal strip.

“The amount of physical destruction and the depth of human suffering here is staggering,” Baird said in a statement issued jointly with Ellison.

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

6 Comments

shergald on February 19, 2009 at 1:22 pm

Kerry ready with the obligatory statements about Israel’s security, but nothing about its cause: the occupation and siege Israel has imposed.

On has to wonder here whether Brian Baird and Keith Ellison are not flirting with the fate of McKinney who was mauled by AIPAC.

Quentin on February 19, 2009 at 3:25 pm

You can only wonder why John Kerry even bothered to go there. To lecture Gazans about the sufferings of Israel?

shergald on February 19, 2009 at 6:38 pm

Sometimes it is just very hard not to get cynical. The alternative is to pretend along.
- Hurria on February 19, 2009 at 7:26 pm
  
  One person’s cynical is another person’s realistic.

Hurria on February 19, 2009 at 4:31 pm

SSDD.

Senator Kerry, I will speak slowly and use the simplest possible words. Please watch my lips carefully as I speak.

SENATOR KERRY, ISRAEL WAS NOT RESPONDING TO ROCKET ATTACKS, OK?

Senator Kerry, do you expect us to believe that you are completely unaware that:

Israeli government and military officials have admitted that the December 27 attack was pre-planned as far back as March, 2008, that they were planning it even as they negotiated the ceasefire that they broke on November 4-5, and that the plan included timing the attack to coincide with the last weeks of the Bush administration and to end prior to the inauguration of the new U.S. President?
Israel has a well-documented, and admitted history of deliberately provoking incidents in order to justify pre-planned attacks?
according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the right wing Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center the rocket attacks had virtually ceased for nearly five months as a result of a bilateral ceasefire and only resumed after Israel violated the ceasefire by launching a series of major deadly attacks on Gaza?
according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the right wing Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center it was Israel, not Hamas that broke the ceasefire with a series of major, deadly attacks inside Gaza, killing 25 Palestinians including several children?
Israel also violated the terms of the ceasefire by continuing to blockade essential goods including food, medicine, medical equipment, and equipment necessary to maintain and repair critical civilian infrastructure, including electrical, water, and sewage.
on its own website the Israeli Ministry of Defense referred to the rocket fire that followed its ceasefire-violation on Nov 4-5 attack as “retaliatory” thus confirming that it was Israel and not Hamas that broke the ceasefire?
according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the right wing Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center until Israel resumed armed hostilities by attacking Gaza on Nov 4-5 Hamas kept the ceasefire very conscientiously, and did a creditable job of restraining other groups who are not affiliated with Hamas and were not parties to the ceasefire?
according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the right wing Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center Hamas was not involved in any rocket fire prior to Israel’s Nov 4-5 resumption of armed hostilities. It was, in fact, the military wing of Fatah, the “peace partners” chosen by Israel and the U.S. that fired the majority of those rockets, with Islamic Jihad a distant second place.
according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the right wing Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, although Hamas was directly involved in rocket fire in response to Israel’s violation of the ceasefire
according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the right wing Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at least some of the rocket fire in response to the Israeli ceasefire violations was aimed at the attacking Israeli forces, suggesting that the rocket fire was, at least in part, defensive? In your view do Palestinians have a right to self defense?
Even if Israel’s 23 day bombardment of Gaza HAD been about rocket fire, it could by no stretch of the term be considered self-defense.

Senator Kerry, by Israel’s own standards Hamas kept its part of the ceasefire agreement very well. It was Israel that violated the ceasefire, eventually provoking a bilateral resumption of hostilities. Studies have shown that this is a familiar pattern of behaviour on Israel’s part going back to its earliest years of existence as a state.

Israel knows by now that the most effective way to stop rocket fire and other violent resistance is by agreeing to and honouring a ceasefire. Israel also knows by now that the least effective way to stop rocket fire is by engaging in violence.

The Palestinians, including Hamas, have shown they are ready for peace. Israel has consistently shown that it is not. There is, indeed, no partner for peace on the other side.

Oui on February 20, 2009 at 4:41 pm

.
I find the views expressed by Steve Clemons far from reality, a better essay is written by Johann Hari.

“Adolf Hitler is not hiding in Gaza City”

(The Independent) – Israel is missing opportunities for peace. Even much of Hamas – an Islamist party I passionately oppose – is amenable to a long ceasefire along the 1967 borders. That isn’t my opinion; it is the view of Yuval Diskin, the current head of the Israeli security service Shin Bet. He told the Israeli Cabinet before the bombing of Gaza that Hamas would restore the ceasefire if Israel would only end the blockade of the Strip and declare a ceasefire on the West Bank. Instead, they bombed, and the offer died.

The former head of Mossad, Ephraim Halevy, says that Hamas, “will have to adopt a path that could lead them far from their original goals” if only Israel will begin the path of compromise. This would drain support for rejectionists such as Osama Bin Laden and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and make it easier to build international coalitions.

Instead, too many Israelis – imprisoned by their history – seem determined to choose the opposite path: of Netanyahu and Lieberman and ramming an endless alienating boot on to the throat of the Palestinians. It doesn’t have to be like this. We can only say to them with Amos Oz, as urgently as we can: Adolf Hitler is not hiding in Gaza City, or Beit Hanoun, or Hebron. Adolf Hitler is dead.

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

shergald on February 19, 2009 at 1:22 pm

Kerry ready with the obligatory statements about Israel’s security, but nothing about its cause: the occupation and siege Israel has imposed.

On has to wonder here whether Brian Baird and Keith Ellison are not flirting with the fate of McKinney who was mauled by AIPAC.
Quentin on February 19, 2009 at 3:25 pm

You can only wonder why John Kerry even bothered to go there. To lecture Gazans about the sufferings of Israel?
- shergald on February 19, 2009 at 6:38 pm
  
  Sometimes it is just very hard not to get cynical. The alternative is to pretend along.
  - Hurria on February 19, 2009 at 7:26 pm
    
    One person’s cynical is another person’s realistic.
Hurria on February 19, 2009 at 4:31 pm
SSDD.

Senator Kerry, I will speak slowly and use the simplest possible words. Please watch my lips carefully as I speak.

SENATOR KERRY, ISRAEL WAS NOT RESPONDING TO ROCKET ATTACKS, OK?

Senator Kerry, do you expect us to believe that you are completely unaware that:
1. Israeli government and military officials have admitted that the December 27 attack was pre-planned as far back as March, 2008, that they were planning it even as they negotiated the ceasefire that they broke on November 4-5, and that the plan included timing the attack to coincide with the last weeks of the Bush administration and to end prior to the inauguration of the new U.S. President?
2. Israel has a well-documented, and admitted history of deliberately provoking incidents in order to justify pre-planned attacks?
3. according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the right wing Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center the rocket attacks had virtually ceased for nearly five months as a result of a bilateral ceasefire and only resumed after Israel violated the ceasefire by launching a series of major deadly attacks on Gaza?
4. according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the right wing Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center it was Israel, not Hamas that broke the ceasefire with a series of major, deadly attacks inside Gaza, killing 25 Palestinians including several children?
5. Israel also violated the terms of the ceasefire by continuing to blockade essential goods including food, medicine, medical equipment, and equipment necessary to maintain and repair critical civilian infrastructure, including electrical, water, and sewage.
6. on its own website the Israeli Ministry of Defense referred to the rocket fire that followed its ceasefire-violation on Nov 4-5 attack as “retaliatory” thus confirming that it was Israel and not Hamas that broke the ceasefire?
7. according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the right wing Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center until Israel resumed armed hostilities by attacking Gaza on Nov 4-5 Hamas kept the ceasefire very conscientiously, and did a creditable job of restraining other groups who are not affiliated with Hamas and were not parties to the ceasefire?
8. according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the right wing Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center Hamas was not involved in any rocket fire prior to Israel’s Nov 4-5 resumption of armed hostilities. It was, in fact, the military wing of Fatah, the “peace partners” chosen by Israel and the U.S. that fired the majority of those rockets, with Islamic Jihad a distant second place.
9. according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the right wing Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, although Hamas was directly involved in rocket fire in response to Israel’s violation of the ceasefire
10. according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the right wing Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at least some of the rocket fire in response to the Israeli ceasefire violations was aimed at the attacking Israeli forces, suggesting that the rocket fire was, at least in part, defensive? In your view do Palestinians have a right to self defense?
11. Even if Israel’s 23 day bombardment of Gaza HAD been about rocket fire, it could by no stretch of the term be considered self-defense.
Senator Kerry, by Israel’s own standards Hamas kept its part of the ceasefire agreement very well. It was Israel that violated the ceasefire, eventually provoking a bilateral resumption of hostilities. Studies have shown that this is a familiar pattern of behaviour on Israel’s part going back to its earliest years of existence as a state.

Israel knows by now that the most effective way to stop rocket fire and other violent resistance is by agreeing to and honouring a ceasefire. Israel also knows by now that the least effective way to stop rocket fire is by engaging in violence.

The Palestinians, including Hamas, have shown they are ready for peace. Israel has consistently shown that it is not. There is, indeed, no partner for peace on the other side.
Oui on February 20, 2009 at 4:41 pm

.
I find the views expressed by Steve Clemons far from reality, a better essay is written by Johann Hari.

“Adolf Hitler is not hiding in Gaza City”

(The Independent) – Israel is missing opportunities for peace. Even much of Hamas – an Islamist party I passionately oppose – is amenable to a long ceasefire along the 1967 borders. That isn’t my opinion; it is the view of Yuval Diskin, the current head of the Israeli security service Shin Bet. He told the Israeli Cabinet before the bombing of Gaza that Hamas would restore the ceasefire if Israel would only end the blockade of the Strip and declare a ceasefire on the West Bank. Instead, they bombed, and the offer died.

The former head of Mossad, Ephraim Halevy, says that Hamas, “will have to adopt a path that could lead them far from their original goals” if only Israel will begin the path of compromise. This would drain support for rejectionists such as Osama Bin Laden and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and make it easier to build international coalitions.

Instead, too many Israelis – imprisoned by their history – seem determined to choose the opposite path: of Netanyahu and Lieberman and ramming an endless alienating boot on to the throat of the Palestinians. It doesn’t have to be like this. We can only say to them with Amos Oz, as urgently as we can: Adolf Hitler is not hiding in Gaza City, or Beit Hanoun, or Hebron. Adolf Hitler is dead.

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

Senator Kerry Visits Gaza

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Oui

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