[Peace-discuss] Cowardly stance of leading liberal Dem

[C. G. Estabrook]

	Kerry shuns Hamas during Gaza visit

The US will not change its stance towards Hamas, John Kerry, the former 
democratic US presidential candidate, has said during a tour of Gaza.

His comments came on Thursday during the highest-level visit by a US official to 
the territory since Hamas seized control two years ago.

"I am here to listen with the UN personnel on the ground to hear ... the things 
we need to do is to improve the situation in the region," he said.

"[This visit] does not indicate any shift whatsoever with respect to Hamas ... 
what it indicates is our effort to listen and to learn," Kerry said in the 
Israeli town of Sderot before entering Gaza.

Accompanied by UN escorts, Kerry said he was in Gaza to view the aftermath of 
Israel's military offensive, which killed more than 1,300 Palestinians, hundreds 
of them civilians, caused widespread destruction and left thousands of people 
homeless.

Politicians Brian Baird and Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the US 
congress, also visited Gaza in the first visit by US congressmen to the Strip 
for four years, and helped out volunteers at the UN relief agency, Unrwa, in Zeitun.

None of the three were expected to meet members of Hamas.

Ahmed Yousef, a Hamas official, welcomed the arrival of the Americans, saying: 
"We highly appreciate the visit of any delegation that wants to find out the 
facts and see what has happened on the ground in Gaza."

'No decisions'

Kerry, who inspected the ruins of a school destroyed in the Israeli offensive 
and toured a neighbourhood heavily damaged in the fighting, spoke to local 
residents.

Shaarhabel Alzeem, a prominent lawyer, told him: "We highly appreciate your 
visit here and hope you can talk to your colleagues and say that we want peace 
with Israel. But we also need to live respectable lives."


Sporadic violence has continued since Israel withdrew its forces from Gaza [AFP]
Kerry replied: "Your political leadership needs to understand that any nation 
that has rockets hitting it for many years threatening its residents is going to 
respond.

"[Hamas] needs to make it clear how it is willing to move to make peace and 
those decisions have not been made yet."

As the head of the senate foreign committee, Kerry is a senior Democrat, but all 
three men were visiting the region in their own capacity and not as 
representatives of the administration of Barack Obama, the US president.

Hamas won elections in 2006 and consolidated control of the Gaza Strip in 2007.

Although Israel and Hamas declared unilateral ceasefires on January 18, sporadic 
violence has persisted amid Egyptian-brokered attempts to reach a long-term 
peace deal.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/02/2009219135025156298.html