Sham White House Conference on Gaza
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
On Tuesday, representatives from 20 Arab and other countries, including Israel and UN representatives, met in Washington at the White House to discuss besieged Gaza.
Since mid-2007, its two million residents have been illegally held hostage by Israeli viciousness – solely for political reasons, supported and encouraged by the Obama and Trump administrations.
Palestinian Authority officials boycotted the conference. Hamas wasn’t invited.
Nor were Iran and Syria, nations supporting Gaza’s liberation, hostile to Israel’s suffocating blockade, virtually imprisoning its people, waging three wars of aggression on the Strip since December 2008.
Zionist ideologues/geopolitical know-nothings Jared Kushner and no-peace/peace process envoy Jason Greenblatt arranged the conference – an exercise in deception, nothing positive from it for long-suffering Gazans.
Greenblatt lied saying the conference “is about the health, safety and happiness of the people of Gaza, and of all Palestinians, Israelis and Egyptians.”
He disgracefully blamed Hamas for Gazan suffering, ignoring ruthless Israeli policies inflicted on them, adding:
“The Trump administration believes the situation in Gaza requires immediate assistance.”
It needed it years ago, notably since Israel’s December 2008 – January 2009 Cast Lead aggression, exacerbated by Pillar of Cloud (2012) and Protective Edge aggression in 2014 – devastating the Strip and its people.
Discussions on Tuesday accomplished nothing. The Gisha Legal Center for Free Movement commented on the White House conference, saying:
It was called a “brainstorming session” on an issue demanding obvious relief needed for illegally besieged Gazans, adding:
“The abysmal living conditions of Gaza’s residents are largely a result of Israel’s (blockade), permit regime, and the decisions made every day (and often not made at all) by those who implement its policies.”
Immiserating Gazans was an Israeli policy decision. Its residents could have been treated humanely, instead of brutalized and held hostage on the phony pretext of claiming Hamas represents a security threat – a bald-faced lie.
Israel controls the Strip, America alone able to influence its policies for good or ill – never the former, always the latter.
A responsible US administration would demand blockade conditions end, Gazans treated like human beings, international law observed.
All US administrations failed the test, Trump worst of all. Zionist ideologues in charge of US/Israeli relations assure nothing positive for Gazans and other Palestinians – a dismal situation.
Gisha’s legal director Osnat Cohen-Lifshitzi slammed contradictions between so-called Israeli security issues and its deplorable actions against Palestinians throughout the Territories, conditions in Gaza worst of all.
They’re terrorized, brutalized and exploited. Nothing came out of Tuesday discussions in Washington to change things.
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