|
Trending Topics
|
Clinton to Visit Middle East in Move to Defuse Gaza Conflict
(New York Times) Peter Baker and Isabel Kershner - President Obama sent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the Middle East on Tuesday to try to defuse the conflict in Gaza, the White House announced. The decision to dispatch Mrs. Clinton dramatically deepens the American involvement in the crisis. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is also scheduled to arrive in Israel on Tuesday. "A decision has been taken to give diplomacy more time, but not unlimited time," a senior official in the prime minister's office said. Benjamin Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to President Obama, said that "any resolution to this has to include an end to that rocket fire." Mrs. Clinton will not meet with Hamas representatives on her trip. "We do not engage directly with Hamas," Rhodes said. Instead, the U.S. is focused on leveraging Egypt's influence with Hamas. Rhodes reaffirmed that the U.S. supports Israel's right to defend itself and said Obama did not ask Netanyahu to hold off a ground incursion into Gaza.