Egypt's foreign minister said on Thursday that Hamas must ensure rocket fire stops in any truce deal to halt Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip, criticizing the Palestinian group for giving Israel an excuse to launch the bombardment.
Ahmed Aboul Gheit's comments came as Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Egypt's president, part of a tour by the Turkish leader to work out an Egyptian-Turkish initiative to end the violence.
The initiative calls for a halt to Israel's assault, a return to a Hamas-Israel truce and an international mechanism to ensure the opening of Gaza border crossings. Erdogan met a day earlier with Syrian President Bashar Assad and was expected to head to Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
Now, let's take things one at a time. First, we have the Foreign Minister from Egypt, a relatively moderate Middle East state, scolding Hamas. Yet, he isn't scolding Hamas for their naked aggression or their blatant tactic of haphazardly targeting civilians. Instead, he is scolding Hamas because in his view their behavior gives Israel all the justification they need for all out war.
Second, we have the Turkish Prime Minister working hard to maintain a lasting peace. Who does he engage with in this process? First, he meets with officials from Saudi Arabia and he then plans on meeting with Bashar Assad of Syria. I assume that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is next on his itinerary. Isn't that the Middle East peace process in a nutshell? You want peace so you employ the "peace loving nations" of Saudi Arabia and Syria to create that lasting truce.
Then, there is Israel. I didn't quote it but later in the article Israeli officials are quoted as saying that they want international monitors to make sure that all sides are abiding by the peace. Isn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? How many times have international observers failed to do exactly what Israel demand they do now? Isn't that how war broke out in Lebanon two years ago? Yet, now Israel is demanding this as part of any truce deal.
So, there you have it. We have a region full of keystone cops of peace processes. Is it any wonder that the region is constantly at war?
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