What about Gaza?

A heated debate has been going on in America for some time now, especially at the White House, among congressmen, foreign policy analysts at think tanks and leading newspapers, over US foreign policy, particularly the likelihood of US intervention, militarily or otherwise, in several countries in upheaval in Europe, South America and the Middle East.

President Barack Obama, according to The New York Times, saw the Ukrainian crisis as “a problem to be managed, ideally with a minimum of violence or geopolitical upheaval”, since unlike his predecessors, he “has not made global aspirations of democracy the animating force of his presidency”.

In Syria, Obama “has been adamantly opposed to direct American intervention in a worsening crisis”, even if the plan featured what the paper called “a sophisticated cyber attack on the Syrian military”, as “such methods would seem to be an obvious, low cost, low casualty alternative”. 

Another aspect of the thinking at the White House was the surprise announcement by Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel that he wants to cut the size of the US army to its smallest size in 74 years, closing bases and reshaping forces to confront a “more volatile, more unpredictable” world.

The turbulent situation in the Middle East still hopefully merits the full attention of the Obama administration, particularly since in his famous Cairo visit in June 2009, the president promised in a public speech “a new beginning” for the Muslim world. 

A highlight of his remarks was his observation, then, that continued Palestinian statelessness is “intolerable” and Palestinians’ aspiration for statehood and dignity are legitimate.

The focus now is on whether Secretary of State John Kerry, who so far has had 10 meetings with Palestinian and Israeli leaders, can come up with the so-called “framework” agreement that would allow the two sides to negotiate a final settlement.

Already a number of Israeli Cabinet members objected to some aspects of the Kerry proposal, reportedly regarding the sharing of Jerusalem and security technology that would be a substitute for Israeli troops in the West Bank, a point among others the Palestinians have rejected.

Most alarming to date about the proposed “framework”, which has yet to be revealed officially, has been the failure to include any ideas on the future of the besieged Gaza Strip, home to 1.76 million Palestinians.

This isolated Palestinian territory’s borders with Egypt in the south and with Israel to the north and east are virtually sealed.

The saddest aspect is the failure to reconcile the key Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, run by Fateh, with Hamas, the Islamist group that rules the strip, the only outlet the Palestinians have to the Mediterranean Sea. 

A recent reconciliation bid was launched by the Palestinian government in the West Bank when a senior Fateh official travelled to Gaza and met with Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. It has yet to yield any fruitful results.

“You can’t do a conflict-ending deal without them, and you can’t do one with them either,” Aaron David Miller, a Mideast scholar at The Wilson Centre, in Washington, and a retired State Department official who participated in earlier Middle East peace negotiations, told The Washington Post.

Both Egypt, now about to witness a new government, and Israel have maintained a tight military blockade of the impoverished strip where the inhabitants are hardly allowed to travel to either side.

Israel forbids Gazans to import construction materials and controls almost all medical supplies that enter Gaza. According to Corporate Watch, Gaza is a “captive market” for Israel’s pharmaceutical companies.

An opportunity for some movement may follow Obama’s scheduled meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who will be in Washington to address the annual meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee this weekend.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has also been invited to see the American president in the coming weeks, but a top Palestinian aide said he was discouraged by Washington’s insistence that the Palestinians recognise Israel as a Jewish state, a point that may eventually harm the Palestinians living within Israel, who total one-fifth of the population.

A lot will be falling on Obama’s shoulders in the next few days. Hopefully he will be able to live up to all the expectations.

The writer is a Washington-based columnist.