Is this move a pre-text for imposing some sort of UN-NATO operation against Israel, or is it a pretext for the Arab League to drop out of the non-war in Libya? I’m going with the latter, but not dismissing the former out of hand. The League may think it has an opportune moment, the right administration in the US, and a bit of leverage after it supported the intervention in Libya.
The Arab League on Sunday announced during a special meeting in Cairo that it plans to press the UN to impose a no-fly zone over Gaza amid an escalation in violence in the area, AFP reported.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said he plans to present the proposal to the UN Security Council, the report said.
The announcement came as Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported on Sunday that UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Roberty Serry successfully brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip including Hamas.
The first part of my question above may seem absurd, but Samantha Power, one of the Obama foreign policy advisers most responsible for whatever it is we’re doing in Libya and rumored to be the next US Secretary of State, is on the record supporting a “mammoth” UN boots-on-the-ground intervention in Israel, arrayed against Israel to protect the Palestinians. Here is video of her remarks on the subject.
Under pressure, Power has since tried to renounce those remarks. But in the video she seems awfully at ease suggesting what amounts to an international invasion of Israel. And if you don’t actually think there exists any reason for any UN force to be inserted into the Israel situation, then it stands to reason you would never answer any question in a way that would make it sound like you do support such an intervention. Yet there Power was, and here the Arab League is, asking for the beginning of the kind of thing Power described.
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