Palestine - no new mindset

In his speech to State Department Employees on January 22 President Obama revealed that his thinking about the war in Gaza contains all too much of the old mindset on this conflict.

Hamas, said the President, “must meet clear conditions: recognize Israel's right to exist; renounce violence; and abide by past agreements”. There is no call for Israel to recognize Palestine’s right to exist, renounce violence; and abide by past agreements.

The speech contains a number of statements that indicate a sense of the weighing of several factors:

“The terror of rocket fire” suffered by “innocent Israelis” was given the same weight as a “future without hope for the Palestinians”. The "loss of Palestinian and Israeli life” were evidently of an equal level of deep concern. The “substantial suffering and humanitarian needs in Gaza”; the need of Palestinian civilians for “immediate food, clean water, and basic medical care”, and the fact that they have “faced suffocating poverty for far too long” were mentioned. However any long-term causes of this suffering were not.

The President stated what he sees as the terms of the outline for a durable cease-fire, involving steps to be taken by Hamas and Israel. However, these demands suggested a limited viewpoint. “Hamas must end its rocket fire; Israel will complete the withdrawal of its forces from Gaza.” There is no requirement that Israel end its attacks on Palestinian territory, withdraw its forces and its settlers from Palestinian lands, and end its efforts to destroy Palestinian lives and livelihoods.

The US and its allies also have a role in bringing about a ceasefire - and here too the old mindset is clear: “the United States and our partners will support a credible anti-smuggling and interdiction regime, so that Hamas cannot rearm”. Meanwhile the US and its allies will undoubtedly continue to arm and rearm the Israeli Defense Forces.

The US must also, the President stated, “extend a hand of opportunity to those who seek peace” and called for Gaza's border crossings to be opened to allow relief to reach “innocent Palestinians” and to restore the flow of commerce. But rather than permitting Gazans to rebuild their economy and restore a normal level of commercial activity, the United States will look to foreign donors for “short-term humanitarian assistance and long-term reconstruction for the Palestinian economy”, assistance that will be provided to and guided by the Palestinian Authority. Not, in other words, to Hamas, which is still to be viewed as a terrorist organization, not as the duly elected government of the Palestinian people.

The President believes that “lasting peace requires more than a long cease-fire" and affirmed his "active commitment to seek two states living side by side in peace and security.” But lasting peace requires something other than the old mindset, and I find it hard to believe that George Mitchell, or any other US statesperson, can honestly mediate a fair and just resolution as long as thinking in Washington remains unchanged. As a mediator I find it hard to believe that the old mindset will lead to lasting peace.