EGYPT: The Arab battle over Gaza

The bickering and divided — some would say dysfunctional — Arab world will attempt to put aside its differences during an international summit in March to raise money for Gaza Strip reconstruction.

Cairo has called the meeting to rebuild the Palestinian enclave that was battered by an estimated $2 billion in damages from the 22-day Israeli incursion against the militant group Hamas.

The fate of Gaza has widened the split in the Arab world between U.S. allies, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and countries and political organizations, including Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon, that are linked to the anti-Western influence of Iran.

Cairo and Riyadh boycotted an emergency summit in Qatar last month, arguing that it threatened Arab unity by further polarizing Middle East politics.

The crux is Hamas.

Moderate Arab nations worry that the radical group has woven Islamic extremism into the Palestinian-Israel conflict. Other countries regard Hamas as a defiant voice against Israeli aggression.

Two new dynamics could ease the animosity. Negotiations between Cairo and Hamas have reportedly improved, although Egypt is perturbed over the lack of reconciliation between Hamas and its rival Palestinian Fatah party. And the region is hoping that President Obama’s talk of diplomacy will improve U.S. relations with Iran — a prospect that could reduce tensions across the Middle East.

— Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: A man carrying a wounded child through bomb rubble in Gaza. Credit: Associated Press

Comments

[potenciano.jennifer]

dysfunctional as the arab world may seem for some, yet I say there are some things that are as crystal-clear as a fired missile rocket or an airstrike, day- or night-time.
am filipino, & am thoroughly objective on this long-festering middle east conflict. & this is my take on the issue, if los angeles times allows me to weigh in on it.

the trouble with israel is that it has been consumed by its ages-long hawkish posturing against the palestinians, particularly against the hamas of late. or should it be "against the arabs" in a general sense?

for it can be asked, does israel really want peace to reign in the middle east, more so in israel? or do they simply want to liquidate all palestinians, the hamas more particularly? for it's pretty obvious that all leaders of this jewish state have been hawkish simply for hawkish sake. now it's the turn of another "begin" to lambast the palestinian "terrorists" when his father, pm begin pere, during his time was more "menacing" than any other israeli politician. yet remember, one man's "terrorist" may be another man's "liberator." is to be a palestinian, to be a hamas synonymous to being a "terrorist?" tragedy/death often occurs when any palestinian is labeled as such, as what befell a palestinian, accused of illegal recruitment in manila, who was "salvaged" (rubbed out) by the philippine penitentiary officials in muntinlupa, south of manila just a few years ago.

that is also the same error in judgment when the philippine military brands wholesale all critics of the fascist gloria arroyo govt as being "communists."

tipni (did i get it right?), barak, nitanyahu (all pm candidates)--they're, as some israelis call them, different faces of the same coin, same dogs of war with different collars.

if the goal of peace, elusive as it may be for both contending parties, were that paramount to both the israeli govt & the hamas, they would look at ways to really end the conflict, honorably and in a lasting manner. the good news we heard of late is that both israel & the hamas want the truce to hold. but they should really work at getting at the right, workable peace solution so the massacres & rocket bombing--& "ebak" (filipino slang for feces) by israel, dumping their fecal wastes in gaza--will end. the latter w/ its fetid, unbearable stink is "calvary" enough for the hamas & more so for their beautiful children, isn't it?

for the phil. military, it can also be asked: are they after peace, or simply the total annihilation of the communists, muslim infidels & all the critics of the arroyo govt.? going by the butchering of the latter, even the countless killings of journalists by the fascist arroyo govt., the answer is pretty much obvious. do the israelis want to ape the phil. military?

[herb glatter]

Help Gazans:
With the Gaza battlefield still smoldering we now hear voices calling for the rebuilding of Gaza. Einstein defined insanity as – doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. It appears we are going to consign the Gazans to endless despair. In 1948 the population of Gaza was 250,000 today 1,500,000. Chronic shortages of water, energy and arable land will make it impossible for them despite all the billions of dollars that have poured in over the years from the EU, United States, Israel, UNRWA and others. Originally used as a dumping ground by Egypt for members of the Muslim Brotherhood, it has now become a hotbed of Islamic radicalism with the Egyptian Foreign Minister stating recently that Egypt would not allow an Islamist state in Gaza. What to do? Population transfer has some precedence. Prior to the 1990 Gulf War 400,000 Palestinians resided in Kuwait. When Arafat and Company backed Saddam and lost, Kuwait ethnically cleansed their Palestinians without any “help” from the UN or an outcry from any corner of the world. Saudi Arabia offers hope and promise for all with vast amounts of unused land, a population of some 27,000,000 including over 5,000,000 foreigners (guest workers). Why not allow Gazans and other Palestinian Arabs to flourish in place of these foreigners?

[John Smith]

I just have one question...

Is the little girl in the photo a member of Hamas also?

The Palestine Review
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