US Seeking 'Sustainable and Durable' Gaza Cease-Fire
By David Gollust
State Deparment
30 December 2008
The United States stepped-up diplomacy Tuesday aimed at what officials term a sustainable and durable cease-fire in Gaza. President Bush telephoned Egyptian and Palestinian leaders, and his administration announced another $85 million in humanitarian aid to Palestinians.
Though a number of world leaders, including U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, have called for an immediate Gaza truce, Bush administration officials say there should be no return to the past cease-fire arrangement that was frequently violated by Hamas.
At a briefing for reporters in Crawford, Texas, where President Bush is spending the holidays, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said U.S. diplomacy is aimed not at a cease-fire in name only that could break down in days or weeks - but one that is lasting:
"We have got to get a commitment from Hamas that they would respect any cease-fire and make it lasting and durable," said Johndroe. "And, so, until we can get that assurance - not the United states, but until Israel can get that assurance from Hamas -then we're not going to have a cease-fire that is worth the paper it's written on."
Johndroe said the President telephoned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad after having a briefing by teleconference on Gaza developments from his national security team.
He said Prime Minister Fayyad thanked Mr. Bush for the $85-million commitment of new U.S. humanitarian aid to Palestinians announced earlier in the day.
Though it does not have contacts with Hamas, which seized control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in 2007, the United States has continued providing food, medicine and other supplies to Gaza Palestinians through the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA and other third parties.
The funds announced Tuesday were an initial U.S. pledge to UNRWA for 2009. U.S. contributions in 2008 totalled nearly $185 million.
A U.S. written statement on the aid commitment said Hamas is fully responsible for breaking the cease-fire and the renewal of violence. But it also urged all concerned parties, including Israel, to protect innocent lives and address urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza by facilitating access there by UNRWA and other agencies.
U.S. officials meanwhile bristled at criticism from some Arab capitals that by supporting Israel's right to self defense and not specifically urging an immediate cease-fire, the United States is complicit in Gaza casualties. Acting State Department Spokesman Gordon Duguid said the U.S. contribution to regional peace-making should be clear to all:
"Few countries have worked as hard as the United States in order to establish a lasting and durable peace in the Middle East," said Duguid. "This particular crisis is no less than those that have happened in the past. The United States is fully engaged in trying to stop violence, so that there won't be any further loss of civilian life, so that there can be a two-state solution to the Middle East, in which Palestinians and Israelis can live in peace."
State Department officials said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stepped up telephone diplomacy Tuesday aimed at a new cease-fire. Among the calls was a four-way conference with the principals of the international Quartet on the Middle East.
The four-power grouping, which includes the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, has tried to foster a final status Israeli-Palestinian accord based on its 2003 peace "road map."
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