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Summary
Obama voiced sympathy for the plight of Palestinians in impoverished Gaza but insisted that any solution must also meet Israel's security needs. Israel says its three-year-old blockade is required to stop weapons smuggling to Hamas. Palestinians call it collective punishment.There should be ways of focussing narrowly on arms shipments, rather than focussing in a blanket way on stopping everything and then, in a piecemeal way, allowing things into Gaza, Obama insisted, saying his administration had begun some hard-headed discussions with Israel on the issue. There was no sign of a breakthrough in Abbas's talks with Obama, but the US president did not send his Palestinian counterpart home empty-handed. Obama announced $400 million in new economic development aid for the West Bank and Gaza. Any fresh infusion of funds to Gaza would come with strings attached to keep it out of the hands of Hamas, which is on the US list of terrorist organizations. Hamas Islamists seized control of the coastal enclave from Abbas's Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority in 2007. In recent years, US aid to the Palestinians has been sent mostly to the West Bank, where Abbas governs, or funneled to Gaza through international agencies. Signalling a US desire to boost Abbas's standing with his people, reporters were allowed into the Oval Office to see the leaders together. Press coverage was barred during a tense visit in November by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which Israeli media widely interpreted as a snub. Obama reiterated his support for a credible investigation of the flotilla incident, saying it was important to get the facts out. But he steered clear of calls for an independent international probe. Israel has insisted on conducting its own inquiry, with a role for foreign experts or observers. Obama's Middle East diplomacy, central to his outreach to the Muslim world, has been complicated by the flotilla incident. Abbas's meeting with Obama took place a week after Netanyahu cancelled talks in Washington and rushed home from Canada to deal with the crisis sparked by the flotilla raid.
