RAMALLAH, June 19 (JMCC) - In trying to change direction and find a better approach to dealing with the long running crisis facing Gaza, the Obama administration is confronting several deeply entrenched obstacles, writes James Zogby.
The US president's efforts will face significant challenges. The Israelis, for example, have demonstrated little interest in an investigation that they cannot fully control. They have countered with their own inquiries, limited in scope, while suggesting that they may allow observers to witness their process. This, of course, falls far short of both the United Nations requirements and Obama's proposal. At the same time, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), by seizing all of the materials on the captured ships and the personal property of the passengers (phones, cameras, laptop computers and other effects), have tainted the evidence making any independent inquiry all the more difficult. Additionally, the Israelis have made clear their disinterest in an objective review in a series of postings on the IDF website that allege, without evidence or documentation, the terrorist affiliations of passengers by name.
Read the article at al-Ahram Weekly...
