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In Iran In Israel
Gaza is the smoke, Iran is the fire World leaders seek stronger mideast peace deal
By Bob Beckel & Cal Thomas 2-3 By Jim Michaels 9 - 10
Obama’s reticence on vote stirs stew of opinion Hamas is battered but resilient
By David Jackson 5-6 By Jim Michael 11 - 13
White House expressing concern but maintaining Israels’s tactics in Gaza invite Palestinian backlash
its distance
Debate 14 - 15
By Michael B. Smith 7
Obama’s input
In Iraq Obama sets terms for mideast peace
Six years after invasion, Iraqis slow to regain Wire Reports 16
confidence
By Aamer Madhani 7-8 Comments from around the world on address
World responses 17 - 18
Americans consider the future in light of the
Iraq war Critical Inquiry
By USA TODAY 8 Discussion Questions and
Additional Resources 19 - 21
© Copyright 2009 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co., Inc. All rights reserved.
As seen in USA TODAY NEWS Section, Thursday, January 8, 2009 Page 11A
Cal: Some of Obama’s top aides have said he intends to Bob: You’re probably right, but what’s this all mean for the
make Middle East peace a “priority.” Good luck with that. United States and the greater Middle East? As you correct-
So many presidents have entered that swamp, including ly noted, every U.S. president dances this dance. Mideast
President Bush, and have nothing to show for it but frus- peace, honest broker, blah blah blah. How do we get past
tration. That’s because neither America, nor any other this Groundhog Day situation?
country or world body, can reverse the religious doctrine
taught to several generations that Allah considers Jews less Cal: The United States needs to continue as an honest bro-
than human and wants them dead and Israel destroyed. ker, but doing so does not mean that Hamas and Israel are
How does one negotiate with people who embrace such equals. They’re not militarily or, certainly, morally. There’s
beliefs? no equivalency. Even so, Obama needs to keep his eye on
the bigger picture, and that means Iran — the greatest
Bob: Not every Muslim in the Mideast embraces those be- threat not only to the region, but to the world.
liefs. There are indications that younger Palestinians are not
as wedded to the destruction of Israel. One reason Hamas Bob: So what should the Obama administration do that
agreed to a six-month cease-fire with Israel prior to the hasn’t been tried already?
current violence was because people in Gaza were feeling
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved. Page 2
As seen in USA TODAY NEWS Section, Thursday, January 8, 2009 Page 11A
Cal: There is no hope as long as Israel’s enemies believe Gaza. If Gaza explodes in the months ahead and becomes
their God wants them to kill Jews. War may not be the a full-scale battle, the United States will have little hope of
best answer, but it can at least wound the terrorists and rallying international support against Iran.
frustrate their objectives. Instead of taking a Jimmy Carter- Bob: You’re right. That’s why, as Obama has suggested, we
like approach and embracing those, such as Hamas, who need a vigorous diplomacy while not removing other op-
employ terrorist tactics, the Obama team ought to give tions from the table.
Israel a free hand to wipe out those who threaten her. It
should then support a declaration that there will be no Cal: None of Israel’s many concessions have brought it any
more concessions until these groups not only cease fire, closer to a peace settlement. I am convinced each conces-
but disarm. sion has made the terrorists want more. Let them fight it
out. Diplomacy might work after one side scores a decisive
Bob: What about Iran? victory or all sides are exhausted.
Cal: Then it must come up with a plan for dealing with Iran, Bob: If only I could believe there would be a decisive vic-
which is supplying Hamas with Russian-made rockets and tory, but it is hard to see how. Cal, you and I agree that
other weapons. Peace through strength. Ronald Reagan, the Obama foreign policy should not be weak-kneed and
whom Obama has had kind words for, understood this. simply about making nice. And I don’t think we’ll get that
Let’s hope our president-elect does, too. Strength is the with the team he has assembled. But we also agree that
one thing Israel’s enemies, and ours, respect. though Gaza is today’s crisis, Iran is the crisis that awaits
us in years to come and must be the focus of any action in
Bob: Yes, the Obama administration should encourage Is- the region right now. We have a strong national security
rael to aggressively defend itself, but the U.S. must — at reason to keep nukes out of Iranian hands. If Israel attacks
least publicly — maintain a safe distance from the Israelis Iran, the few moderate Mideast countries that support an
so that once the dust settles, we can bring both sides to Israeli/Palestinian accord will desert the peace process.
the table. The Bush administration has been too closely What say you?
aligned with Israel, and as such, Secretary of State Condo-
leezza Rice’s trips to the region were about as fruitful as Cal: We may ultimately have to live with a nuclear Iran,
an orange grove in Canada. Obama and incoming secretary using a deterrent strategy similar to the one employed
of State Hillary Clinton have an opening here. Israel has against the Soviet Union. But if Iran acquires nukes, let
two weeks to hammer Hamas and punish them for their the word go forth that an attack by Iran on Israel will be
provocations. But come Jan. 20, real peace overtures must considered an attack on the United States, prompting an
go forward. The loser, if there is some sort of agreement, immediate and disastrous (for Iran) response. President
would be Iran. Barack Obama would have to make that decision. But he
must enter the Middle East from a position of strength, not
Cal: This all really does come back to Iran. There are few weakness. He must remember that his entry into the Gaza
options with that regime: Either the U.S. finds a way, with crisis is his only chance to make a first impression. I know
our allies, to pressure Iran into abandoning nukes, or Is- that I speak for all Americans in wishing him the best in
rael will have to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities. If Israel this historic endeavor.
is forced to do so, any hope for a comprehensive Mideast
peace will be set back decades. The Obama administration
should not go as far as encouraging Israel to try to control
Opinionline:
Bret Stephens, columnist, The Wall Street Journal: “In Michael Walzer, columnist, The New Republic: “Reading
Cairo two weeks ago, Obama trumpeted ‘my commitment about the mass demonstrations in Iran, my first thought
… to governments that reflect the will of the people.’ He isn’t about what the U.S. government should do or what
also lamented that ‘the United States played a role in the Obama should say. It is about what the rest of us should
overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian govern- do and say. … Confronting mass protests in Iran, where at
ment.’ Yet here is his administration disavowing the first least some of the protesters, perhaps many of them, are
of these commitments while acquiescing in the overthrow our political friends, let’s help them through our parties,
— before it can even be installed — of another demo- and unions, and religious groups, and magazines. Let’s
cratically elected Iranian government. Now a presidency write about them, publish their stories, raise money for
that’s supposed to be all about hope is suddenly in cyni- their activities, condemn their arrests, hold meetings, sign
cal realpolitik mode — the only ‘hope’ it means to keep petitions, picket Iranian embassies in every country where
alive being a ‘grand bargain’ over Iran’s nuclear program.” we can mobilize the picketers. … This is an ideological
struggle, and that kind of struggle isn’t first of all the busi-
ness of governments. It is the business of politically com-
Patrick J. Buchanan, columnist, The Miami Herald: mitted men and women.”
“Obama should not heed the war hawks howling for con-
frontation now. … U.S. fulminations would change noth-
ing in Tehran. But they would enable the regime to divert
attention to U.S. meddling in Iran’s affairs and portray the
candidate robbed in this election, Mir Hossein Mousavi, as a
poodle of the Americans. … Obama, with his outstretched
hand, his message to Iran on its national day, his admis-
sion that the United States had a hand in the 1953 coup in
Tehran, his assurances that we recognize Iran’s right to nu-
By David Jackson, USA TODAY Obama made no comments about Iran on Thursday, and he
has spoken only twice about the election and ensuing vio-
WASHINGTON — President Obama is taking heat for his lence since protests began last weekend. “I stand strongly
measured comments about the post-election protests in with the universal principle that people’s voices should be
Iran. heard and not suppressed,” he said earlier in the week.
Obama has said he is troubled by violence against protest- Fariborz Ghadar, a vice minister for the shah of Iran in the
ers in Tehran but insists it’s up to Iranians to settle their 1970s, said Obama is better off saying as little as possible,
election dispute themselves. For that, he’s accused of med- lest Iran’s rulers again cast the U.S. as “the Great Satan.” He
dling by the government of Iranian President Mahmoud added that it’s hard to know what’s really going on, and
Ahmadinejad. “we don’t even know who’s on whose side” in the faction-
ridden Iranian government.
Meanwhile, Republicans such as John McCain, Obama’s ri-
val in last year’s U.S. election, accuse the president of not Ghadar said Obama may well feel a kinship with the pro-
doing enough to help democratic supporters in Iran. testers, who, like his own supporters, tend to be young and
use the latest communications tools to get their messages
Obama “really is up against a rock and a hard place on this,” out.
said Suzanne Maloney, author of Iran’s Long Reach: Iran As
a Pivotal State in the Muslim World. “He can hurt as much “I can feel what President Obama must be feeling,” said
as he can help.” Ghadar, a senior scholar at the Center for Strategic & Inter-
national Studies in Washington. “Having said that, speak-
Maloney said Obama is playing it right because Iran would ing out right now would be counterproductive.”
use stronger words by Obama to cast supporters of Iranian
opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi as U.S. puppets. Daniel Senor, a foreign policy adviser in the George W.
McCain and other critics said Obama is missing a chance to Bush administration, said Obama should speak more force-
isolate the militant Islamist regime in Tehran and promote fully for democracy. He noted that Iran already is accusing
democracy. the U.S. of interference and would do so under any circum-
stances.
McCain used Twitter, a networking website also being used
heavily by Iranian protesters, on Thursday to say: “Mass Democratic movements are best sustained through “inter-
peaceful demonstrations in Iran today, let’s support them national isolation” of repressive governments, Senor add-
& stand up for democracy & freedom! President & his Ad- ed, as happened in the Ukraine after its elections in 2004.
min should do the same.”
The best way to get other countries to speak out against
Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the 2004 Democratic Iran is presidential leadership. “The international commu-
presidential nominee, defended Obama on Thursday on nity,” he added, “will not mobilize unless the United States
the editorial page of The New York Times. Kerry wrote president weighs in.”
that an aggressive approach, as advocated by McCain,
would be seen in Iran as support for Mousavi. If the U.S.
really wants to help, Kerry wrote, “we have to understand
how our words can be manipulated and used against us to
strengthen the clerical establishment.”
Monday Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, asks “It is up to Iranians to make decisions about who
6/15/2009 the Guardian Council to review claims of vote rig- Iran’s leaders will be. ...Having said all that, I am
ging. Mousavi makes his first public appearance deeply troubled by the violence that I’ve been
since the election. State-run media report that seeing on television.” — President Obama
seven people were killed in clashes between the
pro-government militia and thousands of Mousavi
supporters in central Tehran.
Tuesday Thousands of Iranians hold rival demonstrations in “It’s not productive, given the history of U.S.-Ira-
6/16/2009 Tehran’s streets. Ahmadinejad travels to Russia. The nian relations, to be seen as meddling. ... When I
government restricts foreign news media to cover- see violence directed at peaceful protesters, when
ing only authorized events. The ayatollah calls for I see peaceful dissent being suppressed ... it is of
unity. concern to me, and it’s of concern to the American
people.” —President Obama
Wednesday Iran accuses the United States of meddling. Opposi- “The outcome of any election should reflect the
6/17/2009 tion supporters continue to protest while the gov- will of the people. And it is for the Iranians to de-
ernment continues to crack down on dissent. Mem- termine how they resolve this internal protest
bers of Iran’s national soccer team, playing a World concerning the outcome of the recent election.
Cup qualifying match in South Korea, wear green But it is a fundamental value that the United States
armbands in support of Mousavi. holds.” — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton
Thursday Hundreds of thousands of black-clad protesters “The American people and this government are
6/18/2009 join Mousavi to mourn slain demonstrators, defy- not going to pick the next leader of Iran. ... We
ing Iran’s supreme leader. Some chant, “Death to the have to ensure that we express our views ... about
dictator.” ensuring that people can demonstrate (and) have
their causes and concerns heard.” — White House
spokesman Robert Gibbs
President Obama has said he will withdraw all combat “I think … that the roots of democracy or representa-
troops by August 2010 and plans to pull out the remaining tive government, if you want to call it that, in Iraq are still
U.S. troops by the end of the following year. relatively shallow,” Gates said Wednesday. “There is still a
need for further reconciliation and ensuring that … some
Talk of such an exit strategy has been greeted with a mix- of the issues between the Arabs and the Kurds are resolved
ture of disbelief and concern on the Baghdad streets. peacefully.”
Since violence plummeted to the lowest levels since 2003, For U.S. troops, many of whom have served as many as four
the U.S. military focus has shifted in recent months away tours in Iraq, the war is entering an unfamiliar stage.
from combat operations toward missions of training and
equipping Iraqi forces and rebuilding Iraq’s tattered infra- Sgt. 1st Class Alan Ezelle, whose Oregon National Guard unit
structure. is set to return to Iraq next month, said his commanders
have stressed that Iraq is not the same place it was when
The progress on the security front has resulted in a great- the troops were last deployed to Baghdad in 2004-05.
er sense of normalcy in the capital, but it has yet to bring
many Iraqis the confidence that their own security forces Ezelle said his unit, an element of the 41st Infantry Brigade
and politicians will be ready to take sole control of govern- Combat Team, regularly faced heavy combat and ended its
ing and protection in the near future. tour by handing security of an eastern Baghdad sector to
ill-prepared Iraqi forces.
“Right now, things in Iraq are 70% good and 30% bad, which
is much better than it was just two years ago,” said Azher This time, the unit will probably be tasked with a mission
Amin, 45, a steel fabricator. “But if the Americans leave of securing U.S. convoys.
too quickly, the situation will reverse itself. I don’t think
The soldiers expect to find their Iraqi counterparts to be “As infantry, it’s natural for soldiers to want to go where
much more professional, Ezelle said. they could use what they were trained to do,” Ezelle, 41, of
Springfield, Ore., said. “I’ve been reminding the guys that
As the unit awaited deployment orders, Ezelle said, many this (Iraq) is an important mission. We might be able to say
of the soldiers under his charge hoped they would draw we were there when we started to wrap this thing up.”
Afghanistan, where they thought they might be of more
use.
As seen in USA TODAY NEWS Section, Thursday, March 13, 2008 Page 5A
Fighting in Gaza largely stopped Sunday after Hamas of- Among reasons for optimism:
ficials announced they would agree to a one-week cease-
fire, a day after Israel unilaterally halted its three-week of- uHamas’ leadership, caught off-guard by Israel’s offensive,
fensive. may now consider pursuing a more pragmatic course with
Israel, said Mohamed Kadry Said, a security analyst and
It is a fragile peace. Although Israeli troops began pulling former major general in the Egyptian military.
out of Gaza on Sunday, the Israeli government still warns it
will respond forcefully if Hamas resumes firing rockets into Through Hamas’ two decades of existence, the group has
Israel. Diplomats from around the world, including United made Israel’s destruction its main goal. Hamas is classified
Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, were gathered at as a terrorist group by the United States.
an Egyptian resort to try to forge a more durable peace
deal before new violence erupts. “Rhetoric is important, but I don’t think it is reflected in
what will be said in a closed room,” Said said. “Maybe we
Hundreds of tunnels running under Egypt’s 9-mile border will see another Hamas, one that Israel will be more will-
with Gaza, used to smuggle everything from livestock to ing to work with.”
fuel and weapons, were shaping up as a major sticking
point in negotiations. Israel says it has destroyed 60% to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who was hosting
70% of the tunnels, which were built to get around trade cease-fire negotiations, said Sunday that the Gaza conflict
sanctions, but some Gaza residents say the war has done reinforces the need for a “just and comprehensive peace”
little to stop commerce, illicit or otherwise. in the region. Ban said: “We need to put this Middle East
peace process back on track.”
“Even at this time, there are people working in the tun-
nels,” Diaa Hassan, a tunnel worker on the Gazan side of uThe street protests in the Arab world were not as violent
the border, said Sunday. or broad as they could have been, and the West Bank, the
other Palestinian territory, was relatively quiet, Aly said.
He said many tunnels, which often have lighting and com-
plex infrastructure, go down as far as 30 yards — and were uSyria and Iran, Hamas’ chief backers, were largely on the
impervious to bombardment from Israeli planes. “Those sidelines during the conflict. Hamas “miscalculated” how
(tunnels) do not get destroyed,” Hassan said. the world would react, according to Said. “Hamas is alone
now,” he said.
Israel has proposed that foreign troops patrol the border,
and the United States and European countries have offered Other observers were less hopeful, citing anger in the Arab
technical assistance to monitor the tunnels. world over civilian casualties. “We will wake up on the
morning after the war to a situation filled with hatred,”
Egypt has balked at the proposals. “It would look like an- wrote Eyal Megged, a commentator in the Israeli newspa-
other occupying force,” said Abdel Monem Said Aly, direc- per Ma’ariv.
tor of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Stud-
ies, based in Cairo. “It’s a very sensitive issue in Egypt.” Even Aly was hedging his bets. “Either we are heading to-
ward a serious peace process or heading for another cri-
The tunnel system has grown so sophisticated over the sis,” he said.
years that Hamas militants had even set up customs check-
points to collect fees, Aly said. He said the system has lots Contributing: Theodore May in Rafah, Gaza; and wire reports
All this makes peace prospects seem as distant as 30 years The leaders and conditions have to be right — such as at
ago, before the Camp David accords between Israel and Camp David or when Arafat lost power to moderates af-
Egypt ushered in an era of promise. But on Monday, Netan- ter backing Saddam Hussein in the Persian Gulf War. They
yahu at least offered a place to begin. He told Obama he is never happen, though, without meticulous groundwork
ready for peace negotiations. He has previously talked of laid by the United States. Today, that means providing the
improving Palestinians’ living conditions. Palestinians with a fresh path to independence that can
also make Israel more secure.
The resilience of Hamas, which Washington classifies as Stores, restaurants and markets have reopened. Work-
a terrorist organization, highlights how hard it will be for ers are busy restringing power lines and shopkeepers are
President Obama to achieve his goal of “a lasting peace” in sweeping rubble from the sidewalks in front of their busi-
the Middle East, a subject on which he expanded Thursday nesses.
for the first time in office.
In short, the status quo is being restored — and the pos-
As his special envoy to the region, Obama named George sibility that the offensive might result in Hamas’ collapse,
Mitchell, a former senator who has undertaken a range of and the rise of a group more sympathetic to Israel’s exis-
tasks from investigating steroid use in Major League Base- tence, seems to be fading.
ball to helping negotiate peace in Northern Ireland.
“From Hamas’ point of view, they won because they are
The three-week war in Gaza helps show why 11 of Obama’s still in authority,” says Abed al-Rahim al-Shalah, 36, a fi-
predecessors — going back to Harry Truman, who was nancial auditor in Gaza.
president when Israel was created in 1948 — have been
unable to deliver lasting peace to the region. A politically stronger Hamas
Both sides in the war are claiming victories — Hamas sur- Obama has said he wants to stop the humanitarian suffer-
vived Israel’s onslaught with its power intact, while Israel ing in Gaza, but giving aid to the territory has its own risks,
has stopped Hamas from firing rockets into its territory — analysts say.
but the overall result has embittered people on both sides,
“Every dollar to Gaza stands to be a huge benefit to Hamas,” Even so, residents of Gaza, where 1.5 million people live
says Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East adviser to six in a territory roughly twice the size of Washington, D.C.,
U.S. secretaries of state and author of The Much Too Prom- seemed eager to ignore the remaining problems and get
ised Land: America’s Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace. on with daily routines. Thursday, donkey carts laden with
vegetables jockeyed for space with cars and fans. Markets
Abdel Monem Said Aly, director of the Al-Ahram Center for were full with fresh strawberries and other produce.
Political and Strategic Studies, a think tank in neighboring
Egypt, says “Hamas lost some of its (military) power,” in “I’m opening now because I want to get back to a normal
the conflict, “but as a political movement it got more.” life,” says Rami el-Khaldi, who owns a small flower shop
stocked with plastic arrangements. “During the war no
Hamas is not popular in Gaza, some Palestinians say. But one was concerned about flowers.”
it remains the strongest organization in the territory, ex-
ercising control over everything from health clinics to the Dim hopes for peace
police since it kicked out Fatah. “Most people don’t like
Hamas, but they can’t do anything,” al-Shalah says. “They Israeli public opinion about the Gaza war remained ex-
are scaring and frightening everyone.” tremely favorable during the war, with 94% of those sur-
veyed supporting the operation in a poll released by Tel
Hamas’ interior minister and some of its top military lead- Aviv University during the conflict’s final week.
ers were killed in Israeli airstrikes, and the rest remain in
hiding. A guard outside the coastal home of Ismail Haniya, Thirteen Israelis, among them 10 soldiers, died during the
Hamas’ senior leader in Gaza, said the family had to leave fighting, Israel says.
the house but under normal circumstances would be glad
to speak. The war’s popularity is explained in part by lingering dis-
trust toward the peace process among many Israelis since
El-Shami, the police captain, said Hamas’ senior leadership following the collapse of talks brokered by President Clin-
is able to issue orders and remain in control even while ton at Camp David in 2000, which unleashed a new Pales-
out of public view. While talking with a visitor, he was tinian intifada, or uprising.
interrupted by gunfire down the street. Immediately, he
dispatched some officers, who grabbed their AK-47s and Martin van Creveld, a former professor at Hebrew Uni-
sprinted toward the street. versity who has written four books about Israeli defense,
counts himself among that skeptical crowd.
The men came back to report the shooting was from a fu-
neral procession of a “martyr” — one of the roughly 1,300 “There was a time 10 years ago when I had great hopes for
Palestinians who the United Nations says were killed dur- the peace process,” he says. “No longer.”
ing the war. Mourners marched down the street carrying a
coffin and firing weapons into the air. “Everything is under He calls the Gaza war a “success” because it stopped Hamas’
control,” el-Shami declares. rocket fire — and he says it’s just the latest example of Is-
rael “hitting its neighbors over the head” to demonstrate
Many police facilities and government buildings lie in ruins its military power. He says that going back to the 1970s,
around the city. The parliament building has been reduced Israel’s use of “disproportionate” force against Egypt, Jor-
to rubble. Many homes north of Gaza City have been de- dan, Syria, and most recently against Hezbollah militants
stroyed, leaving families homeless. in Lebanon in 2006, was effective enough to intimidate its
foes and ensure that a relative calm followed.
Kunan Ubaid, deputy chairman of the Palestinian Energy
Authority, said 200,000 homes in Gaza have no power and “That’s not peace, but at least it’s the absence of blood-
many others have only intermittent electricity. shed,” van Creveld says. “And in my mind, that’s a hell of
a lot.”
“We don’t have the supplies to fix anything,” Ubaid said,
as he juggled a cellphone and land line and monitored re- Yoram Ettinger, a former minister for congressional rela-
ports on repairs to power lines and transformers. tions at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, is among those
Israelis who think that a lasting peace deal is impossible as
long as Hamas remains in power — and therefore wishes Before the war, he says, he usually waited only 15 minutes
the Gaza offensive had gone even further. for the food, which he uses to help feed his family of sev-
en.
“Terrorism and the peace process constitute an oxymo-
ron,” Ettinger says. “Anyone who wants to advance peace The anger is diffuse: Gazans remain angry at Arab govern-
has to first get rid of Hamas.” ments for not helping them when they were under attack
by Israel.
That broad skepticism of the peace process among Israe-
lis, reinforced by the Gaza war, could prove to be one of Mohammed Mahmud Ibrahim, 35, an economics teacher
the most formidable medium-term obstacles to a deal, van here, says Saudi Arabia and Egypt “don’t want to make
Creveld says. problems with Israel.”
“I would like very much to see an American administra- But, as has been the case here for as long as anyone can
tion that has what it takes to bend our heads together to remember, most of the hatred is reserved for Israel and
stop us fighting each other,” he says. “But is it likely? No, the United States — and although Obama’s election has
no. Both sides here are just too stubborn — after this war, stirred some hope for change here, most people don’t ex-
more so.” pect much.
Desperation on the streets “He won’t be worse than Bush,” Shalah says, but “I don’t
have any hope in the U.S. government.”
Minds may be even harder to change in Gaza because of
the humanitarian crisis. El-Shami, the police captain, dismisses Obama as “the
same as Bush.”
About 70% of the population are refugees, many of whom
depend on United Nations food aid. At a small warehouse For his part, el-Shami says he’s not worried about when his
in Gaza City, hundreds of people lined up for rations of sug- police station will be rebuilt or even whether it will be. “I
ar, rice, cooking oil and flour. The floor was coated with a don’t need an office,” he says. “Our war with Israel is long.
thick layer of flour as U.N. workers scurried around, push- If we rebuild it, Israel might destroy it again.”
ing wheelbarrows full of flour, sugar and other supplies.
Obama spoke after an Oval Office meeting Thursday with Netanyahu said he was willing to begin talks with the Pal-
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The estinians “immediately,” although he declined to endorse
American leader said Israelis and Palestinians must take Obama’s call for a “two-state solution” to the conflict.
steps if they are to realize a peace agreement that will al-
low them to live “side by side.” After returning to Israel, Netanyahu rejected Obama’s plea
to stop Jewish settlements in the West Bank, creating a
Obama’s comments came on the same day Israel refused a fresh obstacle to reviving peace talks with the Palestin-
demand to freeze construction in the West Bank, land that ians.
Palestinians want to claim for themselves.
Obama made clear after his meeting with Abbas that he
“We need to get this thing back on track,” Obama said. expects the Palestinians to uphold their commitments,
including enhanced security in the West Bank. He asked
Abbas said “time is of the essence” in moving forward Abbas to reduce anti-Israel sentiments.
on the peace process. While echoing Abbas on urgency,
Obama said he has no “artificial timetable” to reach an ac- “We are fully committed to all of our obligations,” Abbas
cord. said.
After leaving the White House, Abbas was scheduled to Obama has linked progress on the Israeli-Palestinian con-
meet with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. flict with pressuring Iran to the negotiating table.
The meeting of the two presidents came 10 days after Next week, Obama is set to travel to the region, stopping
Obama hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday before going to Cairo to de-
Next week, Obama will travel to the Middle East to confer liver a speech that he said is aimed at improving U.S. rela-
with the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Egypt. tions with the Muslim world.
2. Anthony Cordesman, Middle East expert, * thinks the war in Afghanistan will be won with programs like the Guard’s
Agribusiness Development Team effort. ** “These are the tactics that have been responsible for virtually every mod-
ern success in irregular warfare, and the Guard’s efforts are an example of the only path to success,” he says. Given
the root causes for violence that you identified in the question above, give concrete examples of how similar tactics
might be applied to quell the ongoing violence between Israelis and Palestinians. Ingeneral, would that model
translate to the overall Middle East crisis as well?
3. General Petraeus claims to have gleaned three bullet points from reading “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson
and David Oliver Relin***: build relationships, listen more, and have more humility and respect. How might these
principles be incorporated into the Obama administration’s strategy to quell violence in the Middle East? To what
degree, if any, should they be considered as guiding principles when determining foreign policy? To what degree
can we define security and basic needs as being “one more important than the other” or as being “mutually sup-
portive”?
4. What are the most likely changes in foreign policy, in general, and Middle East strategy, in particular, from the Bush ad-
ministration to the Obama administration? What lessons might President Obama take from the long-term failure to find
peace in the region? How does his selection of George Mitchell as special envoy to the region reflect on his likely strategy?
* Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy, Center for Strategic and International Studies http://csis.org/expert/anthony-h-cordesman
** http://www.army.mil/aps/08/information_papers/other/ARNG_Agribusiness_Development_Team.html
*** http://www.threecupsoftea.com
Future Implications
1. Enumerate the challenges for Israel as they pursue offensives in Gaza. What effect did the recent siege have on the
relationship between Hamas and its supporters? How did civilian casualties affect Israel’s relationship with its neigh-
bors and impact its image abroad? What ramifications are likely if Israel is unable to significantly weaken Hamas’
military power?
2. Israeli-American historian Michael Oren said another Palestinian uprising, or intifada, was unlikely as a result of the
violence in Gaza, but “the chances for a snowballing regional conflagration are not insignificant.” How would con-
tinuing violence impact the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and stability in the wider region?
3. Mahmoud Abbas blames Hamas for bringing the raids on Gaza by not extending the six-month cease-fire with Israel.
Ultimately, was Hamas or Israel seen as the antagonist in the latest conflict? Explain. What is meant by “the Palestin-
ians never lose an opportunity to lose an opportunity”? Express why you believe this is correct or incorrect.
Voices Extension
Explore the arguments and questions regarding the war in Iraq on the Voices site at: http://www.usatodayeducate.
com/collegiatereadership/index.php/issue-iraq. In what ways is our way forward in Iraq informed by the current vio-
lence in the Middle East?
Select one representative from each country in Group A to meet as a group and discuss mutual solutions to provide
citizens with security and a degree of prosperity.
Those in Group B representing Egypt, Jordan and Israel should meet, establish common needs, etc… and send a rep-
resentative to meet with Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. The representative from this group should then meet with the
Saudi representative with the goal of ending hostilities and establishing diplomatic and normal relations with Israel and
providing a minimum guarantee of security and prosperity to all players in the region.
How did the results of each method of diplomacy (direct or negotiated) differ? Which proved the most effective at end-
ing conflict or providing a path forward for peace and security?
Additional Resources
The Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP)
fmep.org
u
A nonprofit organization that promotes peace between Israel and Palestine, via two states, that meets the fun-
damental needs of both peoples. FMEP offers speakers, sponsors programs, makes small grants, and publishes
the Report on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories containing analysis, commentary, maps, and other
data on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
MidEast Web
umideastweb.org/history.htm
Israel and Palestine: Middle East Historical and Peace Process Source Documents