Ponce
31st May 2010, 07:39 AM
Reacting to Gaza [Updated]
President Obama's meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu tomorrow, Netanyahu has, the AP reports, been canceled by the Israeli side, after Netanyahu endorsed Israeli commandos' operation to turn back a flotilla from Gaza, in which 10 activists were killed.
PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erakat called it a "war crime" in a statement this morning, while Israeli officials say the activists were associated with extremists and tried to fight the soldiers.
Obama's choice now will be to react as he did to the last incredibly ill-timed news — the settlement construction during the Biden visit — and criticize the Israeli action, a move which might upend his recent charm offensive with Jewish groups; or he can, even by remaining silent, tacitly endorse it, and disappoint Arab allies who see the friction with Israel as a sign of progress.
UPDATE: The cancellation gives Obama more space for vagueness.
There's not really much of a middle course for the White House, which at present says it "regrets" the loss of life and is studying the incident.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0510/Reacting_to_Gaza.html
President Obama's meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu tomorrow, Netanyahu has, the AP reports, been canceled by the Israeli side, after Netanyahu endorsed Israeli commandos' operation to turn back a flotilla from Gaza, in which 10 activists were killed.
PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erakat called it a "war crime" in a statement this morning, while Israeli officials say the activists were associated with extremists and tried to fight the soldiers.
Obama's choice now will be to react as he did to the last incredibly ill-timed news — the settlement construction during the Biden visit — and criticize the Israeli action, a move which might upend his recent charm offensive with Jewish groups; or he can, even by remaining silent, tacitly endorse it, and disappoint Arab allies who see the friction with Israel as a sign of progress.
UPDATE: The cancellation gives Obama more space for vagueness.
There's not really much of a middle course for the White House, which at present says it "regrets" the loss of life and is studying the incident.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0510/Reacting_to_Gaza.html