After a strained relation ship Obama and Netanyahu seek to repair relations amid
continuing Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Obama host Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday for the first time after the conflict between the two over Iran nuclear agreement.
A Middle East analyst for the Center for American Progress said. “Unless we have a much more proactive engagement by the current administration we could see ourselves slipping quickly into a major conflagration between groups in Gaza and Israel again.”
The main agenda of this meeting is to strengthen the US-Israel strategic relationship with talks on US military
support, and implementing the Iran deal , and the US’ diplomatic initiative in Syria.
As the situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories is not able to maintain peacefully since 2014 with humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Another new wave of violence began in October with stabbings, shootings, car assaults and clashes between security
forces, settlers and protesters which has cost the lives of 77 Palestinians and nine Israelis with hundreds wounded.
Obama called Netanyahu after his re-election in March and warned his abandonment of the two-state solution would force Washington to “reassess” its policies towards Israel.
The aid groups are also raising alarms about the situation in Gaza where 1.8 million people are grappling with
the aftermath of the 2014 bombing campaign that killed more than 2,140 and destroyed thousands of civilian homes.
According to Donna Baranski-Walker, executive director of the Rebuilding Alliance which runs a non-profit group that organised a US speaking tour for Israeli and Palestinian care providers
in Gaza says. The Israeli government is now prohibiting import of cement,
steel, and wood into Gaza, materials needed to build new houses and apartments for displaced Gaza Palestinians.
“These things need to change if reconstruction is going to
happen,” Baranski-Walker said. “Eighteen thousand homes were demolished and only the first 1,000 are under construction now, and that leaves a lot of people homeless.”
Yasser Abu-Jamel, executive director of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, said “an estimated
370,000 children in Gaza, many of them exposed to trauma in 2014, still are in need of social support.
Common manifestations of psychological stress among children in Gaza include bed wetting, night terrors, poor performance in school, and behavioural issues”, he said.
Abu-Jamel also added.”When we tell the children that Ramadan is coming, and it’s
such a joy, they ask us strange questions that we don’t know how to reply. ‘Are we going to have one more war? Are they going to attack us again? Will we hear the loud
bombardments?'”
Pro-peace and pro-Palestinian groups plan a series of protests at Netanyahu’s public appearances during his US visit. As all Democrats in the US are not supportive of
Netanyahu and his government’s policies.
Rabbi Joseph Berman, government affairs
liaison for the Jewish Voice for Peace , said
“The United States needs to begin pressuring Israel to end the occupation and to begin Palestinian self-determination.
That’s the only thing that is going to guarantee Israel’s security.”