SEN. JOHN KERRY VISITS GAZA, SEES DESTRUCTION UP CLOSE, RECEIVES LETTER FOR OBAMA FROM HAMAS

I want to commend Sen. John Kerry and his two Democratic congressmen for visiting Gaza today for the purpose of seeing for themselves the destruction caused to Palestinian infrastructure by the Israeli attack and bombardment.

The BBC reports:

"A former presidential candidate, Mr Kerry was visiting Gaza with US congressmen Brian Baird and Keith Ellison in the first such visit to the Hamas-run Strip since 2007. . . .

"UN relief agency chief Karen Abu Zayd told the BBC the letter had been received by the UN and passed on.

"She did not say if Senator John Kerry had accepted it, and there were no details about the letter's contents."

Cong. Baird said the almost complete destruction defied imagination. The Israelis seemed to have taken special interest in targeting Palestinian businesses and farms. But they also destroyed schools, hospitals, mosques and police stations.

Hamas apparently delivered a letter to Barack Obama. This is a good first step. The outdated bizarre notion that the U.S. should not speak or negotiate with Hamas because it is a "terrorist organization" is left over from George W. Bush. Obama should repudiate it and immediately begin to sit down at the table with Palestinian representatives from both Hamas and Fatah. There can be no peace until and unless Obama is willing to do this.