WASHINGTON: As Israel kept up its string of attacks on Gaza for a fourth day that has killed hundreds and injured hundreds more through air attacks, US President George W. Bush leaned on Palestinian leaders to urge Hamas to stop firing rockets into Israel.
Israel has said it will not cease its assault until Hamas stops firing missiles into its territory.
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said yesterday in Crawford, Texas that Bush telephoned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to discuss a “sustainable cease-fire” in the Gaza Strip.
“They agreed that for any cease-fire to be effective, it must be respected, particularly by Hamas,” he told reporters.
Meanwhile, the situation on the ground in Gaza has been characterized as panic.
“I’ve been on the phone much of the weekend doing interviews with people in Gaza,” said Nora Barrows-Friedman of Flashpoints Radio. “The people there are filled with panic and terror — and this comes after a prolonged siege that deprives them of needed food, medicine, clean water, electricity — the basics of life.”
Saying that Israel has turned Gaza into a “giant jail,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim advocacy group in the US, has called for the US government to act immediately to end to Israel's “illegal and immoral” bombardment.
“We also demand that the Bush administration join with the international community in seeking to end the collective punishment imposed on the civilian population of Gaza by Israel's ongoing blockade of humanitarian aid,” said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad. “We call for a resumption of the cease-fire that, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, was ‘unilaterally violated when (Israel) blew up a tunnel.’”
The outgoing US administration maintains that Israel has the right to defend itself. Washington has also cautioned Israel to do what it can to avoid civilian casualties.
Meanwhile, the Israelis refusal to allow the media into Gaza makes it impossible for the world to know what's happening there.
Joel Simon, executive director of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, called for an explanation on the bombing of Al-Aqsa TV headquarters in Gaza City on Sunday.
“We are also dismayed by the army's decision to declare Gaza’s northern boundary with Israel and other parts of the territory ‘closed military zones’,” said Simon.
This latest move, along with previously stated restrictions, prevents journalists from effectively reporting from the Gaza Strip."
Israel’s Supreme Court will hear a petition Thursday brought by the Foreign Press Association, which represents around 400 foreign journalists there, demanding that Israel allow reporters into Gaza to cover the latest conflict.
In an open letter, the Foreign Press Association said that the closure of the Erez crossing to journalists marked “an unprecedented restriction of press freedom. As a result the world's media is unable to accurately report on events inside Gaza at this critical time,” it said.
“Despite our protests the Israelis authorities have refused to let journalists in ... We believe it is vital that journalists be allowed to find out for themselves what is going on in Gaza. Israel controls access to Gaza. Israel must allow professional journalists access to this important story.”
Dr. Mounzer A. Sleiman, a National Security Affairs analyst based in Washington, criticized the US media reporting on the Gaza bombings. “The problem is that the dominant narrative in the American media is biased in favor of the Israelis because of the long influence and propaganda and ‘education’ that the Israeli side has been doing for decades.
“It is not helping is that we have a president-elect that has many hopes and frustrations being put on his shoulders, but his silence is complicit because he’s selective about his commentary of claiming that we have only one president.
“He enthusiastically commented on a whole set of issues from economics to Mumbai attacks, but when it comes to the war crimes that are being committed by the Israelis — he's deferring to the Bush administration, and we all know their position is ... Since Hamas came to power, the Israelis been trying to isolate the regime, so this campaign has many goals to achieve,” said Sleiman. “The primary goal is to affect the Israeli election and to provide better chances for the coalition of Labor and Kadima to maintain power and try to reduce the chances of the Likud coming back to power. And they’re using the Palestinian body count as a means of increasing their votes in the coming election.
“The other issue is to try, during the transitional period in the US to the new president, to change the status quo to where Fatah, the Palestinian Authority, will expand their authority over Gaza. The Israelis want a willing partner for a potential compromise and they need to prepare the situation on the ground, and the weak Palestinian Authority is willing to sign on to the Israeli demands for the control of Gaza.
“It’s a kind of military coup by the Israelis to bring their interlocutor to power, like the military intervention in Iraq, to bring a power into government that was subservient,” said Sleiman.
