PERES: ... there is no shortage of basic needs in Gaza. We take care that medical equipment and food and fuel will arrive to Gaza, even today.Cracks in this storyline appeared Monday when Katie Couric's show took a remarkable departure in an excellent report from Gaza on the CBS Evening News by correspondent Richard Roth:
"There aren't enough ambulances to carry the casualties, who arrive in cars - and taxis, too. The beds are all busy at Al-Shifa Hospital; the courtyard's a crowded waiting room; the morgue is full"; "They have no spare parts, they have no monitors. They have not enough blood pressure machines, they don't have enough trolleys. They lack everything. And on top of this you have this huge disaster."
Check out some of the other very good CBS reporting in other stories as well. In particular, "U.S. Shoots Down U.N. Call For Ceasefire,"
The Security Council was scolded by U.N. General Assembly President Miguel D'Escoto, a former Nicaraguan Sandinista, who called the lack of action by the Security Council an illustration of the Security Council's disfunctionality. He called the failure of action a "monstrosity."Finally, MSNBC Countdown carried a strong interview with National Security Council analyst Hillary Mann Leverett highly critical of President-elect Obama for remaining silent on the siege. Leverett raised alarming doubts about the orientation and the team coming with State designee Hillary Rodham Clinton in terms not unlike those used in this blog.
"There are some members of the Security Council that are trying to protect their own political interests," d'Escoto said. "This is a real shame ? people are dying."
Leverett: There's considerable fear [in Arab states] about the advisers she's going to bring with her--people like Martin Indyk, Dennis Ross, Ken Pollack. People that I would call neoconservative fellow travelers. People who brought the failed peace process between the Israelis and Palestinians at the end of the Clinton term in 2000, people who cheered and championed the invasion of Iraq under this administration. There's a lot of fear and consternation that the advisers Hillary Clinton is going to bring with her are going to make us long for the Bush days.I respect Leverett and her husband, Flynt Leverett, as realist figures at various times in the NSC and State Department for strong stands opposed to use of force in Iran, favoring instead diplomatic engagement. Good job, Ms. Leverett. It takes quite a lot to knock Olbermann back on his heels like that.
Olbermann: Hmmm, goodness. ...
Posted by The Owl at 02:06. Filed under: Palestine/Israel
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