This morning BBC radio had a good report on Senator John Kerry's visit to Gaza, along with Congressmen Brian Baird of Washington and Keith Ellison of Minnesota, a Muslim. Kerry announced to a press conference exactly what Barack Obama announced when he visited Palestinian school kids in the West Bank in 2006– This is not a change in policy, this is not a change in policy! (Memo to the Israel lobby: we're on your side!) But of course it is a change in policy. As Stephen Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations explained, this is a huge symbolic gesture, and a signal from the Obama administration, of a piece with the Muslim statement in the Inaugural speech, the Al-Arabiya interview, and the George Mitchell appointment.
The BBC interviewed an official from UNRWA who said that the visit to Gaza had been stunning to the congressional delegation, as it would have to be–Mustafa Barghouti couldn't speak for four days after he visited Gaza–and she is hopeful of real policy change to follow. It will. In time to save the 2-state solution? Dunno.
(Phil Weiss)
