in their own words
 |
|
|
|
 Hamas as a Humanitarian Organization - White House Press Briefing by Gordon Johndroe 1/2/09 — Friday, January 02, 2009 —  MR. JOHNDROE: Jeremy. Q A couple questions. One, is there any progress to report, incremental or otherwise, of reaching a cease-fire at this stage? MR. JOHNDROE: Well, we're not seeing Hamas stop its rocket attacks. And that's something that we're going to need to see them do. And I know that we've been engaged in a lot of diplomacy. I know that Foreign Minister Livni is traveling in Europe right now, and they've signaled that this is not an operation that they're going to stop right now because they have to protect their people. Israel has a right to defend itself from these rocket attacks. And so we'll see. We want a cease-fire as soon as possible, but we want one that is durable and lasting and won't be broken right away again by Hamas, one -- a cease-fire that Hamas respects. Q Secondly, has the U.S. fielded any requests from Israel for additional arms or munitions? MR. JOHNDROE: None that I'm aware of. Q Gordon, recently Foreign Minister Livni told the French Foreign Minister Kouchner that there is no humanitarian crisis. Is that a characterization that the administration agrees with? MR. JOHNDROE: Well, we want to make sure that there isn't a humanitarian crisis. Israel has allowed -- I think yesterday's count was 93; before that there were dozens of truckloads of humanitarian supplies that entered into Gaza. We want to make sure that flow continues. And we want to make sure that that, the food and medical supplies, reach the people of Gaza. The Israelis are reporting that Hamas hoards the humanitarian supplies and doesn't allow them to reach the people of Gaza, to create the idea of a humanitarian crisis. I can't speak to the exact situation on the ground. I can't speak to their allegation. I can't speak to Hamas's allegation that humanitarian supplies are not flowing in fast enough. We've seen humanitarian supplies flow into Gaza. We want to see them continue to flow into Gaza. Q But, Gordon, on that point, the official evidence coming from Gaza would indicate that there is already a crisis in terms of hospital treatment, doctors, civilian casualties. So how can you say there is not a humanitarian crisis? MR. JOHNDROE: No, I -- Gaza has been under the rule of Hamas now for 18 months or so. And Hamas has done nothing particularly good for its own people. That is why the United States has pledged nearly $200 million over the last year and a half for humanitarian assistance in to the people of the Palestinian Territories. The United States is the largest donor through the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, as well as the ICRC. We are very concerned about the people of Gaza. We are concerned about the humanitarian situation on the ground there now. I also know that Israel is permitting humanitarian shipments to go into Gaza. I also know that Israel alleges that Hamas is hoarding the humanitarian shipments, the food and medical supplies, to make the humanitarian situation worse and to blame the Israelis. I cannot speak to the specific facts on the ground. There is obviously a problem with the ability of the citizens of Gaza to be able to access everything as quickly and easily as they want, whether it's medical supplies or food. And we want to make sure that they do have access to it. Gaza | Gordon Johndroe | Hamas | Israel | Middle East | Press Briefing | White House Press Corps Labels: Gaza, Gordon Johndroe, Hamas, Israel, Middle East, Press Briefing, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 3:23:00 PM
|
|
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
< whpc home