Hamas Sees New Bush in Barack Obama The Palestinian resistance group Hamas has disparaged new US President Barack Obama, saying he is repeating the same mistakes of the Bush administration. "I think this is an unfortunate start for President Obama in the region and the Middle East issue," Osama Hemdan, Hamas representative in Lebanon, told the Doha-based television. "Obama insists that no change will happen. He is trying to move along the same path that previous US presidents have followed." Laying out his vision on the Middle East peace, Obama said that Hamas must recognize Israel before any contacts with the group. "For years Hamas has launched thousands of rockets at innocent Israeli citizens. No democracy can tolerate such danger to its people," Obama said. He said Hamas must abide by Quartet conditions on recognizing Israel, halting "violence" and upholding previous agreements. "To be a genuine party to peace ... Hamas must meet clear conditions, recognize Israel's right to exist, renounce violence and abide by past agreements," he told a press conference as he named veteran negotiator George Mitchell as his Middle East peace envoy. Obama said that the US would support a "credible anti-smuggling and interdiction regime, so that Hamas cannot rearm." The Bush administration has rejected any contacts with Hamas, which overwhelmingly won the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006. The US and Israel also led an international campaign to impose a crippling siege on Gaza, home to 1.6 million Palestinians. Same Mistakes Obama said he would send his Middle East peace envoy to the region to secure the setting up of two states living side by side in peace. "It will be the policy of my administration to actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians," he said. The new US president said that was deeply concerned by the suffering of the Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip. "I was deeply concerned by the loss of Palestinian and Israeli life in recent days, and by the substantial suffering and humanitarian needs in Gaza," he said. "Our hearts go out to Palestinian civilians who are in need of immediate food, clean water and basic medical care, and who have faced suffocating poverty for far too long.. "Just as the terror of rocket fire aimed at innocent Israelis, is intolerable, so, too, is a future without hope for the Palestinians." Obama, however, renewed the US support to what he said Israel's right to "self-defense". More than 1,300 Palestinians were killed and 5,450 wounded in 22 days of air, sea and land Israeli attacks in Gaza. Hamas said that Obama is repeating the same mistakes of the Bush administration.. "It seems that Obama is trying to repeat the same mistakes that George Bush made without taking into consideration Bush's experience that resulted in the explosion of the region instead of reaching stability and peace in it," said Hemdan. "It looks like the next four years, if it continues with the same tone, will be a total failure." (IslamOnline.net and Agencies) http://www.palestinechronicle.com/news.php?id=6a0a1968e07ce6798091d60992e91bd8&mode=details#6a0a1968e07ce6798091d60992e91bd8 Gazans See No Hope in Obama The fever of joy and optimism may be sweeping the world, but for Leila Khalil, Barack Obama's landmark inauguration on Tuesday, January 20, falls absolutely flat. "Obama won't bring my husband back to life," the Gazan woman, whose husband was killed during Israel's bloody offensive on the Palestinian territory, told Agence France Presse (AFP). Across the bombed-out coastal enclave, people hold little hope that Obama, who took the oath as America's 44th president, will appease their sufferings after a brutal three-week Israeli blitz. Khalil, who lost her husband when Israeli bombs fell on a school in north Gaza, says the new American leader will not bring her back what she has lost. "He was martyred and left me with six children to feed on my own ," Khalil, 42, said of her late husband. "Obama won't repair our house that was damaged in the raids." She is not alone. "No American president will compensate us for our losses from the war nor resuscitate the martyrs nor heal the amputated nor rebuild the homes that have been restored," fumes Samih Zouhdi, 53. For Umm Mohammad, Obama's inheritance of the Oval Office from the unpopular George W. Bush brings no hope for her traumatized children. "Neither Bush nor Obama will make us forget the fear and the homelessness with which we have lived." At least 1,300 Palestinians, including 410 children, have been killed during Israel's air, sea and ground attacks on Gaza. The onslaught has turned the impoverished Strip, home to 1.6 people, into piles of rubble and clouds of smoke, forcing more than 200,000 people to flee their homes. Pro-Israel US Khalil al-Attar, a civil servant, believes Obama will never alter the historically pro-Israel US policy. "He will act according to the interests of the people who elected him," said the 30-year-old. "These interests coincide with those of Israel…As for the Palestinians, they have always been the scapegoats." Eyeing the Jewish votes, Obama has frequently voiced support for Israel during his presidential campaign. He has told the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Council (AIPAC) lobby that Al-Quds (occupied East Jerusalem) must20remain the "undivided" capital of Israel. He later swallowed the remark after coming under fire. Obama has since pledged that his administration will engage on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict from day one. But Zouhdi, who works in a bank, does not believe Obama's words will be ever translated into actions. "Politics understands only the language of interest and we do not represent an interest for the United States.." Khalil, the widowed Gaza mother, agrees. "If we can't even count on Arab presidents, what can we hope for from an American president when they've always supported Israel? "No one cares about us." (IslamOnline.net and Agencies) http://www.palestinechronicle.com/news.php?id=fdfa5c90e735731428b86ec5d7f62cc2&mode=details#fdfa5c90e735731428b86ec5d7f62cc2 Roy Walker www.panafricanperspective.com
