Conversation with Senator Jim Webb on Gaza

January 28, 2009
Dear Mr. Kreider:

Thank you for contacting my office regarding the conflict in the Gaza Strip. I appreciate your taking the time to share your views with me.

As you may know, on January 8, by unanimous consent, the Senate passed Senate Resolution 10, expressing the Sense of the Senate on the conflict in Gaza. While the resolution affirms U.S. support for Israel's security and condemns the Hamas rocket attacks, I believe it presented an incomplete response to the situation in Gaza.

I am very concerned about the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Reports from the United Nations and from humanitarian organizations citing lack of access for humanitarian assistance in Gaza are very troubling. We here in the U.S. should be insisting that the situation be rectified immediately and permanently. Israel indeed has a right to defend itself from Hamas rocket attacks, but in my view a meaningful ceasefire must be brokered to stop the escalation of violence, followed by a serious conflict resolution process that involves all parties in the region.

To state the obvious, a lasting solution to the conflict in the Middle East is critical to global peace and security. Without an inclusive, diplomatic process that effectively addresses the core interests of both Israelis and Palestinians, the cycle of violence will obviously continue. It is my strong belief that the United States and the international community must place stability in this region as a top priority. As a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, please be assured my staff and I are monitoring this serious situation very closely and will work with the incoming Obama Administration toward bringing such stability into reality.

I would also invite you to visit my website at http://www.webb.senate.gov for regular updates about my activities and positions on issues that are important to Virginia and our nation.

Thank you once again for contacting my office.
Sincerely,

Jim Webb
United States Senator


An Open Reply:

"Dear Senator Webb,

I want to express my thanks for your response to my letter regarding the humanitarian and political crisis in Gaza. I agree that this situation is dire, and indeed urgent from a humanitarian standpoint as well as from a strategic national security standpoint. I agree that it relates to the root causes of our 'global war on terrorism'. Israel's unbalanced national security strategy based primarily on overwhelming force, repressive military leverages, collective punishment on a defenseless population, her persistent refusal to negotiate directly and inclusively with elected Palestinian leaderships, and her de facto strategy of de-development to weaken Palestinian social and economic infrastructure are a recipe for disaster. This runs in explicit contradiction to the spirit of our own US National Security Strategy which recognizes the strategic interdependence of diplomacy, development, and defense as integral to just peace and human security. Israel must change this untenable approach and take this opportunity to initiate a smarter and more comprehensive security strategy based on social justice to resolve this melee of compounding frustration and injustice that constitutes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

I appreciate your recognition of this as a primary international concern, and your work to engage it from your position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Sincerely,
David Kreider

Keywords:Gaza,Israeli-Palestinian,conflict,security strategy,diplomacy,development,Foreign Relations,humanitarian crisis,disaster,collective punishment,repressive military,occupation,de-development,war on terrorism