Same Old US Policies Roadblock to Gaza Reconstruction
What will US policy be towards the Gaza issue? Will it be new policies of a new administration seeking an equitable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or simply old wine in new bottles?
Among the many critical foreign policy situations facing the Obama administration, this is one of the most serious, especially after the recent Israeli invasion of Gaza and the possibility of war crimes prosecution against Israel and Hamas.
However, as reported at IPS News, it may be the same old failed policies that will be trotted out leading to more of the same, failed, inequitable "solutions" that didn't work when tried before.
"Despite a desperate need to rebuild the Gaza Strip, viewed by many as a key ingredient to reuniting the Palestinian territories and building a two-state peace deal with Israel, it appears that the U.S. and the international community are poised to continue old, politically-charged policies that will impede progress.
"Even before Israel's three-week war on the Gaza Strip, some 80 percent of the besieged territory's 1.5 million Palestinian residents reportedly depended on aid to meet their basic needs.
"After the massive air, land and sea assaults of late December and January, those status quo demands have been exacerbated by the urgency of more humanitarian aid coupled with a need to rebuild the devastated Strip.
"But it is not clear how much help - especially help from the U.S. - will be able to make its way into the tightly sealed, 360-square-kilometre parcel of land or to its war- and poverty-ravaged population, resulting in what one analyst said would be severely slowed reconstruction.
"Gaza's borders and coastlines are controlled by Israel and Egypt, which have enforced a near total blockade for 18 months since the militant group Hamas seized power there, effectively cleaving Palestinian polity, economy and society in two.
"Since then, Israel, the U.S. and much of the international community have pursued a policy of isolating Hamas and building up the group's rival, Fatah, which controls the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank, but holds no sway in Gaza.
"It appears now that the U.S. will not be directly involved in aid programmes to Gaza - especially reconstruction - and that the new administration of President Barack Obama will continue the George W. Bush policy of isolating and starving Hamas. That tack is seen by some as collective punishment of Gazans and a major impediment to development there.
"In terms of the peace process, the challenge is especially daunting because both a robust U.S. role and Palestinian unity are viewed as essential to progress.
" 'The American priority today is restoring American credibility. The point is restoring the credibility that what the U.S. does actually has an impact,' said Robert Malley, a former high-level Mideast adviser to Pres. Bill Clinton, now with the International Crisis Group (ICG).
" 'We have to recognise the collective failure of our approach - U.S., Israeli, Palestinian, Arab - towards the question of Hamas and the question of Gaza,' said Malley, insisting that didn't necessarily entail engagement with Hamas but rather 'a more nuanced pragmatic position'.
" 'There is any number of options to undertake the reconstruction of Gaza, but not many by [the U.S.],' said Aaron David Miller, a former high-level adviser to six U.S. secretaries of state, now with the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars.
"Miller pointed to U.S. laws that prevent any material support to Hamas and a policy of the U.S. administration to 'not do anything that will strengthen Hamas in the aftermath of Israel's attack'.
" 'I agree with Mr. Malley's point that one of the ways to create greater confidence and inject American credibility into this situation would be to get our arms around the problem in Gaza,' he told IPS, 'but we won't or can't.'
" 'The whole effort to rebuild Gaza is going to be retarded as a result of these political problems, which is bad for Palestinians,' he said.
"But restricted U.S. aid, the Quartet's stated opposition to Hamas, and British pledges made at Abbas' side, indicate that most, if not all, international programmes are destined to go through Fatah - perceived by most Palestinians as corrupt and a group Miller said was "not on the ground...not there" in Gaza.
"Recognising what Malley called 'the necessity of Palestinian unity as a prerequisite for peace,' the continuing divisive international policies and resulting hindered reconstruction of Gaza could have broad implications for the peace process as a whole."
Not a very auspicious beginning for the Obama administration in this volatile region.
Among the many critical foreign policy situations facing the Obama administration, this is one of the most serious, especially after the recent Israeli invasion of Gaza and the possibility of war crimes prosecution against Israel and Hamas.
However, as reported at IPS News, it may be the same old failed policies that will be trotted out leading to more of the same, failed, inequitable "solutions" that didn't work when tried before.
"Despite a desperate need to rebuild the Gaza Strip, viewed by many as a key ingredient to reuniting the Palestinian territories and building a two-state peace deal with Israel, it appears that the U.S. and the international community are poised to continue old, politically-charged policies that will impede progress.
"Even before Israel's three-week war on the Gaza Strip, some 80 percent of the besieged territory's 1.5 million Palestinian residents reportedly depended on aid to meet their basic needs.
"After the massive air, land and sea assaults of late December and January, those status quo demands have been exacerbated by the urgency of more humanitarian aid coupled with a need to rebuild the devastated Strip.
"But it is not clear how much help - especially help from the U.S. - will be able to make its way into the tightly sealed, 360-square-kilometre parcel of land or to its war- and poverty-ravaged population, resulting in what one analyst said would be severely slowed reconstruction.
"Gaza's borders and coastlines are controlled by Israel and Egypt, which have enforced a near total blockade for 18 months since the militant group Hamas seized power there, effectively cleaving Palestinian polity, economy and society in two.
"Since then, Israel, the U.S. and much of the international community have pursued a policy of isolating Hamas and building up the group's rival, Fatah, which controls the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank, but holds no sway in Gaza.
"It appears now that the U.S. will not be directly involved in aid programmes to Gaza - especially reconstruction - and that the new administration of President Barack Obama will continue the George W. Bush policy of isolating and starving Hamas. That tack is seen by some as collective punishment of Gazans and a major impediment to development there.
"In terms of the peace process, the challenge is especially daunting because both a robust U.S. role and Palestinian unity are viewed as essential to progress.
" 'The American priority today is restoring American credibility. The point is restoring the credibility that what the U.S. does actually has an impact,' said Robert Malley, a former high-level Mideast adviser to Pres. Bill Clinton, now with the International Crisis Group (ICG).
" 'We have to recognise the collective failure of our approach - U.S., Israeli, Palestinian, Arab - towards the question of Hamas and the question of Gaza,' said Malley, insisting that didn't necessarily entail engagement with Hamas but rather 'a more nuanced pragmatic position'.
" 'There is any number of options to undertake the reconstruction of Gaza, but not many by [the U.S.],' said Aaron David Miller, a former high-level adviser to six U.S. secretaries of state, now with the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars.
"Miller pointed to U.S. laws that prevent any material support to Hamas and a policy of the U.S. administration to 'not do anything that will strengthen Hamas in the aftermath of Israel's attack'.
" 'I agree with Mr. Malley's point that one of the ways to create greater confidence and inject American credibility into this situation would be to get our arms around the problem in Gaza,' he told IPS, 'but we won't or can't.'
" 'The whole effort to rebuild Gaza is going to be retarded as a result of these political problems, which is bad for Palestinians,' he said.
"But restricted U.S. aid, the Quartet's stated opposition to Hamas, and British pledges made at Abbas' side, indicate that most, if not all, international programmes are destined to go through Fatah - perceived by most Palestinians as corrupt and a group Miller said was "not on the ground...not there" in Gaza.
"Recognising what Malley called 'the necessity of Palestinian unity as a prerequisite for peace,' the continuing divisive international policies and resulting hindered reconstruction of Gaza could have broad implications for the peace process as a whole."
Not a very auspicious beginning for the Obama administration in this volatile region.
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