Clinton Sympathizes With Palestinians In Confirmation Hearing

Hillary Clinton sent a message to Israel Tuesday during her Secretary of State confirmation hearing testimony, telling the Foreign Relations Committee that because of the conflict in Gaza "we have ...been reminded of the tragic humanitarian costs of conflict in the Middle East, and pained by the suffering of Palestinian and Israeli civilians."

Mainstream American politicians are famously reluctant to utter the words "suffering" and "Palestinian" in the same sentence. By breaking from that tradition, Clinton appeared to send a signal to Israel that that it would not have a free hand to operate in the Middle East.

President-elect Barack Obama found out the hard way early in the campaign what heat can come to a candidate who expresses sympathy for Palestinian suffering. He was quoted in the Des Moines Register as saying that "[n]obody is suffering more than the Palestinian people." The report said that Obama considered the suffering "a result of stalled peace efforts with Israel."

Asked later in a debate about the remark, he backpedaled. "Well, keep in mind what the remark actually, if you had the whole thing, said. And what I said is nobody has suffered more than the Palestinian people from the failure of the Palestinian leadership to recognize Israel, to renounce violence, and to get serious about negotiating peace and security for the region," Obama explained.

Clinton went on to say that the current crisis "must only increase our determination" to seek a two-state solution.

"The President-elect and I understand and are deeply sympathetic to Israel's desire to defend itself under the current conditions, and to be free of shelling by Hamas by rockets. However, we have also been reminded of the tragic humanitarian costs of conflict in the Middle East, and pained by the suffering of Palestinian and Israeli civilians," Clinton said. "This must only increase our determination to seek a just and lasing peace agreement that brings real security to Israel; normal and positive relationships with its neighbors; and independence, economic progress, and security to the Palestinians in their own state."

Comments

[MyLowell]

does anyone know why they were burning pictures of obama in tehran recently? i thought he's been fairly silent on this issue...

[ATL78]

you answered your question..­.silence is the problem.

[SurrealPumpkin]

Judging by what HRC had to say it's no surprise he's been silent. The thing is, if he agreed with Bush there would be no problem with him speaking.

[xxnounxx]

you answered your own question dear..they thought he is for change.

[gayleg]

As per usual, Clinton's 100% right.

[Gmoney1]

Just sick of Hillary - why did Obama do that - we have to look at those eye bags for the next four years - she's not that smart and is just quite boring -

[sharonh]

Your qualifiers for SOS are not that smart and are just quite boring. You just showed your lack of smarts by saying she is not smart. Yawn.

[MyLowell]

clinton boring? not smart? are you kidding? i like clinton for this position; she has guts.

[sharonh]

Yeah, there are great qualifiers for SOS--the ability to work all night without it showing physicially, and to make sure that you are entertained. You sound like a real deep thinker.

[nana4g]

How telling...­.suck it up.
Eye bags: lots of days and nights of hard work.
Facial smirks and swaggers: immaturity
End result: Competence

[xxnounxx]

leave the eye bags alone,i dont care if she had weaved baskets hanging from her FACE OR HAD LEPROSY,ALL I CARE OF ,IS THAT SHE TREAT THE PALESTINIANS THE WAY SHE TREATS THE ISREALI'S.­.WITHOUT DOBLE STANDARDS OR HYPOCRISY.
you see if america was fair,none of these wars would take palce,but israel get away with murder,becouse america is silent,and silence means approval 90% of the time

[blurredtruth]

Here comes WW III

[odan]

nah, but here comes zero change and a whole lot of disappointed libs.

[xxnounxx]

hear hear

[mamacat]

I find it amazing that a people who were subjected to the Holocaust have so easily lost their ability to sympathise with innocent women and children. Zionism has become something that thinking and feeling people everywhere can be ashamed of.

[mikesw]

"The President-elect and I understand and are deeply sympathetic to Israel's desire to defend itself under the current conditions, and to be free of shelling by Hamas by rockets. However, we have also been reminded of the tragic humanitarian costs of conflict in the Middle East, and pained by the suffering of Palestinian and Israeli civilians," Clinton said. "This must only increase our determination to seek a just and lasing peace agreement that brings real security to Israel; normal and positive relationships with its neighbors; and independence, economic progress, and security to the Palestinians in their own state."
=====
Actually sounds quite reasonable. A two state solution with security for BOTH states with autonomy and economic development and a regional normalization of relationships.

Much better than the usual finger-pointing.

[30minutesbefore]

Someone posted get hurled with rockets for 8 years. Ah.. the short memories. How long has this conflict been going on? And how long has H a m a s held authority?

[Destin]

hehe, good point. People do have a short memory. It wasn't that long ago that they were screaming PLO and Arafat. Then PNA and Arafat, then Fatah and Arafat. Then simply Fatah after Arafat died in 2004. People forget that Hamas hasn't been in power for 2 years yet.

[30minutesbefore]

Those posting the problem is H a m a s -- how long has this conflict been going on? And how many govts have held sway in P a l e s t i n e.

Surfact thinkers.

[trudem2]

Her comment still favors Israel. The Palestinian situation is relegated to last.

[albo385]

As usual trudem2, the Palestinian situation will always be ignored (unfortunately). It appears that everyone seems to be focusing on Israel's right to exist but I suppose that the Palestinians shouldn't enjoy these same rights.

[johnnycmlately]

Israel is committing genocide as we speak. They have become the very thing they tell the world they will never suffer again. they've have become south africa. they are now engaged in a hol_o-caust.

[smithson]

There's a difference between killing that's necessary to fight and win a just war, and killing purely for the sake of killing. Did we commit genocide when we firebombed Dresden and dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima?

In South Africa, blacks were systematically excluded from all levels of society, literally kept apart. In Israel, Arabs have equal rights and serve in the Knesset. If you want to draw a more accurate comparison with South Africa, try the Muslim nations.

[30minutesbefore]

And yet, P a l e s t i n i a n s are segregated in Gaza.

[thankulord13]

Israel is worst than South Africa. To say that Palestinians have equal rights is to say Black people had equal rights here in America for the last 400 years. You need a serious history lesson!

[johnnycmlately]

So, you equate using white phosphorus on women and kids, cluster bombs, F-16's, and helicopter gun ships on some guys called hamas that are using bottle rockets? Or some civilians throwing rocks as the only way to protect themselves against the killing machine of the izraylee army? Let's keep it real playa', we all know that that Izzy is engaged in criminal acts. No way to justify it. It reminds me of the old Indian wars in A-merry-ca and we all know how that went don't we.

[rizvisa1]

So what about denying the right of Israeli citizens the right to marry Palestinians (even with foreign passport) to live with their spouses in Israel. Saying that every one has same right is not true.

[SurrealPumpkin]

Not anymore they don't. The Knesset just banned two Arab parties from participating in the election.

[mazak]

I am 100% agree with johnnycmlately

[middletonpink]

Me too. We are witnessing a H O L O C A S T.

[odan]

you have zero and I mean zero credible proof of your assertion.

[30minutesbefore]

Well, 70 percent of Americans don't agree with you.

[martiniandabotoxchaser]

I think the issue here is semantics.­..we need to substitute the word Hamas for Palestinians when discussing those who are shelling Israel. It is Hamas who has chosen to send rockets into Israel and it is Hamas who Israel seeks to destroy...­not the Palestinian people. Words do matter and Ms. Clinton needs to choose hers carefully.

[30minutesbefore]

Disagree, wholeheartedly. You can't defend the indefensible.

[martiniandabotoxchaser]

We can't condemn peaceful Palestinian people...w­e can condemn the actions of Hamas, who is bent on the destruction of Israel.

[NotMcCain]

I'm sick of hearing that "Israel must be sae from Hamas' rockets" (which have killed NO ONE.

But no one in our government is saying that "Palestinians must be safe from Israeli...­.guns, and tanks and other forms of mass killing" (which, this time alone, have killed almost 900 and wounded hundreds more).

Everyone knows that Israel is here to stay. But who is speaking up for the Palestinians?

[odan]

That is not true Israelis have been killed by unguided rocket fire from gaza, and before they were launching rockets it was suicide bombers. that's why they sealed the borders at first. I'll give you very few people have been killed by said rocket fire, but i highly doubt you have a bomb shelter in your basement to kkep you and your family safe. i also highly doubt you send your kids to school in bomb shelters, and more than anything I highly doubt you would tolerate it where you live for 2 seconds before you demanded your government put a stop to it.

[maddie0001]

I'll believe it when I see it but maybe this is the good side of the country going bankrupt. Israel will have to fight this on their own dime, we can't afford this game any more.

[Carolab]

I'm not too sure. There are trillions of dollars "missing".

[Manchurian]

We can't afford it, but do you really think our politicians will stop sending billions of our tax dollars (along with massive amounts of weapons) to Israel?

[BelGazou]

Hamas rockets did kill about 13 or 14 Israelis, mostly during the last two weeks, nowhere near the number of Palestinian civilians killed by Israel.

I'm as disgusted with Israel's heavy handed response as with Hamas use of human shields and their continuing to shell the Israelis though they know it is futile. As a Hamas leader said recently, "The main goal of Hamas is to attain martyrdom and the destruction of Israel". They always attain the first goal, also enlisting the Palestinian people as human shields whether the Palestinian people like it or not. If only Hamas had as much expertise in governance as they do in creating martyrs.

[canadiansoccermom]

However, Hamas feeds the children. When your children are hungry you vote for but those who feed them.

[martiniandabotoxchaser]

Do you vote for people who use those same children as human shields?

[Manchurian]

I think she's saying Palestinians vote for Hamas because they take care of the people of Gaza. She's not saying she would vote for them (as a Canadian, how could she?).

[judiNJ]

Good for you, Hillary. George Bush has done more harm to Israel than any
past president by his one sided arguments. His dad was a much better
honest broker. This is what is needed in the middle east right now!

[riverhouse]

Hillary no longer has to be elected. That is the explanation for that comment.