Obama Meets With Mahmoud Abbas And Says Gaza Blockade Is "Unsustainable"

The Jerusalem Post reports that the "US is pressing for a new strategy for increasing the flow of goods to Gaza and is boosting aid to Palestinians there while seeking to portray the moves as achievements for the Palestinian Authority rather than Hamas. US President Barack Obama said he was looking for a 'new conceptual framework' for handling the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, at a press conference following his meeting with PA President Mahmoud Abbas Wednesday."

“There should be ways of focusing narrowly on arms shipments, rather than focusing in a blanket way on stopping everything and then in a piecemeal way allowing things into Gaza,” he said, rejecting the current Israeli model for controlling trade and supplies into the Strip. "In implementing a new approach," he continued, “it seems to me that we should be able to take what has been a tragedy and turn it into an opportunity to create a situation where lives in Gaza are directly improved.”

The Jerusalem Post reports that to "that end, the White House announced Wednesday that it was contributing an additional $400 million to Palestinians. While the largest chunk is allocated for mortgage assistance in the West Bank, several smaller projects were dedicated to rebuilding schools, agriculture facilities and sewage systems in Gaza." Tweet