Catastrophe in Gaza has deep roots

"The question that routinely comes up regarding US foreign policy these days is: What in the world were they thinking?" says The Wall Street Journal. The latest "puzzlement" came over the weekend, when the US secretary of state, John Kerry, "blundered" into the three-week conflict in Gaza, promoting a ceasefire floated by Turkey and Qatar that was close to the terms being demanded by Hamas.

President Obama didn't endorse the plan per se, but talked of the strategic imperative of an "immediate, unconditional humanitarian ceasefire that ends hostilities now" and leads to a deal based on the November 2012 ceasefire. But that "is the one that let Hamas rearm".

Many of us wish America would "voice impatience" with Israel a little more often, but the "abandon with which Israel's opprobrium was expressed", specifically towards John Kerry, was "astounding", says The Independent on Sunday.

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Kerry's push for long-term peace between Israel and the Palestinians, that fell apart in April, was seen by many as doomed, partly because Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, isn'twilling to wind back controversial Israeli settlements.

Andthe current "catastrophe" in Gaza essentially stems from therefusal of Israel to negotiate in good faith to let the Palestinianshave a proper state, says The Economist.

It's a lot more complicated than that, says David Brooks in TheNew York Times. The Israeli-Palestinian dispute is no longera "self-contained struggle". The whole region is in turmoil:Sunni-Shiite rivalry is at "full boil", as is Sunni-Sunni rivalry,Saudi-Iranian rivalry and that between Arab authoritariansand Islamists.

Look at the roots of this crisis. It was becauseEgypt's military rulers closed off the tunnels connecting Egyptto Gaza, where their opponents, the Muslim Brotherhood, hadan offshoot that had gained power (Hamas).

Hamas couldn't strike Egypt, but it reckoned that if Arab TV screens were filledwith dead Palestinians, public outrage would force Egypt to liftthe blockade. "Like every conflict in the region" this has to beseen as a piece of a larger war: "a clash within Arab civilisation,over its future".