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As Palestinians begin thinking about how to rebuild the bombarded Gaza Strip, the biggest hurdle quickly became apparent: Who will be in charge?
European countries, oil-rich Arab kingdoms and the United Nations have all pledged money or aid since Israel declared a cease-fire Sunday in the military offensive it launched Dec. 27. But none of the donors wants to deal with Hamas, the Islamist movement that still controls Gaza but is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the European Union and the United States.
In early January, a week into Israel’s war in Gaza, the home of Sabah Abu Halima was hit by an Israeli shell. Ms. Abu Halima, the matriarch of a farming family in the northern Gaza area of Beit Lahiya, was caught in an inferno that burned her husband and four of their nine children to death.
Khaled Abed Rabbo returned Wednesday to what was left of his five-story home in a village that bears his family's name, and spoke softly of his three young daughters.
Sowad, 7, and Amal, 2, died in a hail of Israeli gunfire during what was supposed to be a cease-fire to allow humanitarian aid in the early days of the conflict, he said. His middle daughter, Samar, is now paralyzed with bullet wounds.
THE shocking level of the last wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence, which ended with this weekend’s cease-fire, reminds us why a final resolution to the so-called Middle East crisis is so important. It is vital not just to break this cycle of destruction and injustice, but also to deny the religious extremists in the region who feed on the conflict an excuse to advance their own causes.
Two and a half years ago, a group of Arab leaders decided it was time to try to set aside their political differences and deal with what was ailing their countries: widespread illiteracy, ineffective schools, unemployment, inadequate water and food resources.
So they called for an extraordinary summit meeting to be held in Kuwait City this week. The plan was for the 22 members of the Arab League to agree on concrete ways to improve the lives of their 330 million citizens. Instead, they bickered over how to handle the Gaza crisis.
President Barack Obama moved swiftly to engage on the Middle East, calling Israeli and Arab leaders on his first morning in office and preparing to appoint a seasoned peace negotiator and former senator, George Mitchell, as his special emissary to the region.
Obama did not announce any new initiatives Wednesday, although he promised deeper U.S. involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than was evident during the Bush administration, which steered clear of the peace process in its early days.
Hundreds of Palestinians are starting to repair tunnels in Gaza that are used for smuggling in goods from Egypt.
Israel, which ended its 22-day offensive last Sunday, has warned of renewed military strikes on the strip if the tunnels are reopened.
Residents along the border say food, fuel and other goods are moving through the several dozen tunnels that are still operational.
Meanwhile, attempts continued in Egypt to find a lasting truce.
The talks, with an Israeli envoy Amos Gilad, were expected to focus on stemming arms smuggling across the border.
'Hamas trying to rearm'
Standing on a newly formed hillside of rubble in the destroyed Jabaliya refugee camp, five young men all claim to be resistance fighters.
"All of Gaza are mujahideen," they said.
But when asked which of them had actually fired a gun in the three week-long battle with Israel, none gave a convincing answer.
And as armed Hamas policemen return to Gaza's street-corners and traffic-lights, many in Gaza are wondering where they were when it came to fighting the Israeli Army.
Hamas still has enough power and influence here that few will criticise the Islamist movement openly.
After pummeling Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israel now hopes to push through a prisoner swap to retrieve a soldier held by the Palestinians since 2006, Israeli officials said on Thursday.
They said Israel was conditioning any lifting of its Gaza blockade on immediate progress in Egyptian efforts to free Gilad Shalit, and would be willing to relax its objections to a list of Palestinian prisoners which Hamas wants released in exchange.
Israeli envoy Amos Gilad was in Cairo on Thursday for Egyptian-mediated talks on clinching a lasting truce with Hamas expected to focus on stemming arms smuggling across the porous Gaza-Egypt border.
Gilad arrived "for a short visit to meet with senior officials to discuss consolidating the ceasefire in Gaza," Egypt's state MENA news agency said.
Egypt invited Hamas to Cairo for separate talks on Thursday on shoring up the fragile ceasefire that took effect on January 18, but the Islamists will only send a delegation to Cairo on Sunday, the foreign ministry said.
Barack Hussein Obama wasted no time plunging into foreign policy on his first full day in office yesterday, finally freed from the constraints of tradition that had forced him and his staff to remain silent about world affairs until he became president.
Obama made a flurry of calls to Arab and Israeli leaders in a signal that Middle East peacemaking is a top priority following Israeli aggression against Gaza.
A Palestinian spokesman said that Obama had told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that he was the recipient of his first call as the 44th US president.
The Arab summit in Doha last week was intended to unite the Arab states in condemnation of Israel and begin diplomatic moves against it. But with Egypt and Saudi Arabia absent from the gathering and actively lobbying other Arab heads of state not to attend, the summit turned into a rally for the pro-Iranian bloc, in which Qatar looked like merely a constituent member.
In the aftermath of the war, the questions arise. Now, as the last IDF soldiers leave the Gaza Strip and the plumes of smoke and dust dissipate over the ruins, the picture of the war starts becoming clearer.
Links:
[1] http://www.americantaskforce.org/print/2020
[2] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printmail/2020
[3] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printpdf/2020
[4] http://www.americantaskforce.org/rss/wpr
[5] http://www.americantaskforce.org/world_press_roundup/20090122t000000
[6] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/20/AR2009012004066.html
[7] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/world/middleeast/22phosphorus.html?_r=1&ref=world
[8] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/21/AR2009012102992.html
[9] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/opinion/22qaddafi.html?ref=opinion
[10] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/world/middleeast/22arab.html?ref=middleeast
[11] http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/22/mideast/diplo.1-413293.php
[12] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7844497.stm
[13] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7843633.stm
[14] http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE50L28S20090122
[15] http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h5RdlKvYVgBt3W2a3hOdGrBaNcpw
[16] http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=118429&d=22&m=1&y=2009
[17] http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1232292929095&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
[18] http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1057672.html
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