Pressure on Israel is the key to peace

It is clear that Israel is in charge - especially in the current violence - of the situation in and around the Gaza strip. In three days Israel managed to kill 375 Palestinians as opposed to Hamas' efforts of 4 Israeli deaths.

But Israel cannot help being provoked by Hamas. In order for any kind of moderate government movement to start up in Gaza, Israel, in the short term, must commit to peace and allow essential aid into Gaza. This conflict is a vicious circle which will only stop once one side stops attacking the other. This change in attitude must come from Israel. As the more developed and democratic of the two belligerents, Israel needs to set an example. If they do not and carry on with their ground offensive into Gaza they will only fuel the hatred of Israel by young Palestinians, breeding the next generation of suicide bombers and rocket launchers. Children seeing Israeli tanks every few years tear apart their homes destroys any idea of peace for the future.

Pressure must come from he big players in world politics such as Barack Obama, Gordon Brown and the leaders of the powers of the future, China and India. Sadly Barack Obama has chosen to stay silent on this issue. This was his chance to differ from the Bush Administration who blamed Hamas for the escalation of violence. His spokesman stated that there can be only "one President at a time." It may be he is waiting until he is in power to make his move for peace or that he simply doesn't know what to do. I reckon America's policy towards Israel will change little with Obama in power. He may begin to get the two sides talking but I feel the US has always been close to Israel and a new president will not change that allegiance.

Nicolas Sarkozy however has told Israel off for its "disproportionate" response to Hamas. At least he appears to notice Israel has stepped out of line (unlike the Bush Admin. who seem to turn a blind eye). More needs to be done than words, however. The UN should be more involved with the conflict, forcing the sides to speak or at least not bomb each other.

But during reading "Shake Hands with the Devil" I realised that the UN won't intervene if the issue does not interest the powerful countries on the security council. So leaders will have to work alone and not collectively.

Whether Obama has any effect on the middle east remains to be seen. I expect much more of him and the new US foreign policy. If the US will only do things out of self-interest then working towards peace in Gaza would be a good investment in the fight against terrorism and America's image in the Arab world.