Bush Gaza Crisis Response: Let Obama Handle It
WASHINGTON — With time running out on the Bush presidency, the administration seemed increasingly ready Friday to let the crisis in Gaza fall to President-elect Barack Obama. Although aides to President George W. Bush insisted they are still working hard to secure a "durable and sustainable" cease-fire _ even as their influence wanes with less than three weeks on office _ they all but ruled out a more direct approach and stood behind Israel, squarely blaming Hamas militants for the latest flare up in Mideast violence.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice briefed Bush on developments in Gaza, where intensifying rocket fire from Palestinian militants has elicited days of punishing air strikes by Israel, and she continued furious telephone diplomacy to arrange a truce. Yet, she said she had no plans to make an emergency visit to the region.
There have been growing calls for Rice to intervene with Israel in person amid rising international concern about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza. Her decision to stay away will likely disappoint those calling for a more robust U.S. role, particularly as French President Nicolas Sarkozy intends visit the region next week.
In recent days, U.S. officials had said that a Rice trip to the Middle East, as a first stop on a long-planned visit to China next week, was under consideration. But those officials said Friday that Rice would stay in Washington. They spoke on condition of anonymity because an announcement is not expected before the weekend.
"It's just as easy for her to keep on working the phones from here in Washington rather than being in the region right now," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
Meanwhile, Obama is receiving the same intelligence reports on Gaza that Bush is. Rice has spoken to both Obama and Secretary of State-designate Hillary Rodham Clinton about the situation at least once in the last week. Obama and Clinton have remained silent on the issue out of deference to Bush, who still has 18 days as commander in chief.
At the same time, Rice has kept up a frantic pace of telephone calls trying to secure a truce that Hamas will respect.
"It is obvious that that cease-fire should take place as soon as possible," Rice said, "but we need a cease-fire that is durable and sustainable."
"Hamas has used Gaza as a launching pad for rockets against Israeli cities, and has contributed deeply to a very bad daily life for the Palestinian people in Gaza and to a humanitarian situation that we have all been trying to address," she told reporters after meeting with Bush.
At the White House, Johndroe said that Hamas must stop its rocket fire before a cease-fire.
"Israel has a right to defend itself from these rocket attacks," he said. "And so, we'll see."
Israel has been cool to a truce, rejecting calls for a 48-hour humanitarian cease-fire and massing tanks and troops near the Gaza border for a possible ground incursion, a step that could vastly broaden the casualties and the consequences for the region.
Johndroe would not comment on a possible invasion by Israel, but cautioned: "Any actions they take in this overall operation that they are involved in right now need to avoid civilian casualties, and we also need to continue the flow of humanitarian goods into Gaza."
Hamas-run Gaza has been largely isolated from the rest of the world since the Islamic militants won parliamentary elections in 2006. Hamas violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, expelling forces loyal to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who still rules the West Bank.
Rice said that Hamas has "held the people of Gaza hostage ever since their illegal coup," a point she has made in dozens of conversations with Arab leaders and other interested parties over the course of the past week.
She spent much of New Year's Day on the phone about Gaza, calling Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Jordanian Foreign Minister Salaheddine Al-Bashir twice each, the State Department said. Rice also spoke Thursday with the foreign ministers of Britain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, along with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who serves as an envoy for the international "Quartet" of Mideast peacemakers.
On Friday, Rice discussed Gaza with the foreign minister of the Czech Republic, which assumed the rotating presidency of the European Union on Jan. 1, department spokesman Gordon Duguid told reporters. The European Union, as well as the United States, the United Nations and Russia, is a member of the Quartet.
The ongoing violence in Gaza has underscored the Bush administration's difficulties in trying to forge peace between Israel and the Palestinians. That process, launched by Bush, Abbas and Olmert in a November 2007 peace conference in Annapolis, Md., excludes Hamas, which the United States brands a terrorist organization.
Israel launched the aerial campaign last Saturday in a bid to halt weeks of intensifying Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza. The offensive has dealt a heavy blow to Hamas, but has failed to halt the rocket fire. New attacks Friday struck apartment buildings in a southern Israeli city. No serious injuries were reported.
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Associated Press Writer Ben Feller contributed to this story.
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MATTHEW LEE | January 2, 2009 03:04 PM EST |
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