Ken Stein: Five years ago, the US and Israel agreed to stop the flow of arms to Hamas in Gaza

Ken Stein
July 30, 2014

In January 2009, during the last days of the Bush (43) administration, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)  was signed between the Governments of Israel and the United States, where Washington and Jerusalem went on record “unequivocally condemning all acts, methods, and practices of terrorism, in particular the recent rocket and mortar attacks and other hostile activity perpetrated against Israel from Gaza by terrorist organizations.” Signed in Washington on January 16, 2009, the US further agreed “to work with regional and NATO partners to address the supply of arms and related material and weapons transfers and shipments to Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza.”  The memorandum was signed at the end of Israel’s December 2008-January 2009 effort to suppress Hamas rocket attacks against Israel.  Should the United States become centrally or peripherally involved in monitoring a cease-fire and the movement of a cease-fire into a new status-quo for Gaza, the contents of this MOU could constitute a workable outline for helping enforce calm in Gaza and on its borders. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, in his June 2009 Bar-Ilan speech suggested that “real monitoring, and not what occurs in Gaza today” be employed in monitoring a demilitarized Palestinian state.