How Hillary Clinton Got It Done in Gaza, and Other 'Winners' from the Ceasefire
As today's ceasefire agreement between Israel and Palestine begins to take effect, we'll continue to monitor whether it's actually working. But what's the political fallout from the peace accord?
Elspeth Reeve
As today's ceasefire agreement between Israel and Palestine begins to take effect, we'll continue to monitor whether it's actually working. But what's the political fallout from the peace accord? Well, besides the end of teddy bears in the rubble from this week's stream of breathtaking images, the diplomatic fault lines appear to be coming back together. If there are any winners from the end of more than a week of violence — you know, besides the people who (hopefully) won't have to live through rocket-fire — here's what the immediate reaction has turned up:
The ceasefire elevates Morsi. ".....and just like that... Mohammed Morsi was made a statesman. US put him in position of delivering Hamas. #SecClinton delivered Bibi," tweets SBS News' Margaret Brennan. A White House statement said President Obama "thanked President Morsi for his efforts to achieve a sustainable ceasefire and for his personal leadership in negotiating a ceasefire proposal. President Morsi expressed appreciation for President Obama's efforts in this regard."
Hillary looks pretty good, too. In June, Reuters reported that the gossip in diplomatic circles was, "What's she ever done?" On major issues, like the Middle East and Afghanistan, "Clinton appears to have been sidelined by the Obama White House, or is simply out of the picture." Despite a complex Tuesday night in the region, that doesn't quite ring true today.
The Iron Dome wins. The White House's official statement on President Obama's phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says, "The President said that he was committed to seeking additional funding for Iron Dome and other US-Israel missile defense programs." Additionally, the statement says Obama pledged to help control the flow of arms into Gaza. On MSNBC, Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren says Netanyahu responded to a request from Obama for a ceasefire.
What about the Palestinian Authority? "Another big question: Will Bibi do anything to help Abu Mazen and Fayyad convince Palestinians that their path is better?" The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg tweets. Earlier this week, The Daily Beast's Peter Beinart wrote that while Israel was hurting Hamas militarily, it was not hurting Hamas politically:
If Israel really wanted to harm Hamas, it would boost the group's main rivals, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his prime minister, Salam Fayyad. Abbas and Fayyad—remember them?—have bet their careers on the proposition that security cooperation with Israel and public recognition of Israel's right to exist are more likely to bring their people dignity and justice than are Hamas's rockets. But it's not working out so well for them. It's hard for Abbas and Fayyad to convince Palestinians that their nonviolent path to statehood is succeeding when settlement expansion gobbles up more and more of the land (and water) upon which Palestinians might build their state.
Elspeth Reeve is the former politics editor for The Wire.