Turning Point?

Up till now, the Obama administration team has acted as though no matter what Israel did, it was okay. Nary a word except to say the Israelis have a right to defend themselves after the home made rockets of Palestinians landed in the fields a little way in from the border. (Yes, some rockets are more sophisticated and have caused four deaths and two dozen injuries. But that is a far cry from the two ton bomb dropped on a Hamas leader . . . and his family . . . and his neighbors.)

With SoS designate Clinton entering a non-elected position, she may now be free to look more objectively and pragmatically at Gaza and Israel and go back to a view she held when she became First Lady, that Palestinians had rights that needed Israel's attention and respect.

PE Obama has obligated himself to AIPAC but may be able to step back, remember his promise to speak to all parties (Hamas in cluded), and challenge a terrible policy that will be no more successful than the attack on Hezbollah in 2006.

Maybe not this year! But I can fantasize. . . .

But what may prove to be the turning point is that the politics of this Gaza invasion may bolster the Israeli peace movement instead of bolstering the Israeli hawks. It appears that the reason Olmert is pushing this invasion of Gaza is to take votes away from the super hawks of Likud. Initial polls support that strategy. Olmert's supportive legislators are up in the polls.

But as the truth about this invasion continues to get out, Israeli dissidents will gain in popularity. Unlike in the US when we read the papers about Israel, Israeli press is very open to conflicting viewpoints and challenges of government spin. By putting Israeli sons and daughter on the ground to fight in Gaza where the Palestinians live and know the landscape, Olmert has lost the world's support and will lose Israeli popular support.

Can PE Obama read this seed change? Of course. Can AIPAC? Not likely. PE Obama and SoS designate Clinton may have more negotiating to do with AIPAC than with Hamas! The success of that diplomacy is what may finally change our policy toward Israel and Palestine.