"The situation in Gaza is unsustainable," Obama declared as he met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Oval Office. He said the attention of the world is on the problem because of the "tragedy" of the Israeli raid that killed nine people trying to bring in supplies.
Obama called for narrowly tailoring Israel's broad blockade on goods entering the Gaza Strip so that arms are kept out, but not food, building materials or other items needed for the Palestinians' daily life and economic development.
"The key here is making sure that Israel's security needs are met but that the needs of people in Gaza are also met," said Obama.
"So if we can get a new conceptual framework ... 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 actually, directly improved."
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Does the President think this tailored approach could be best achieved by:
a) having Israeli inspectors at every port to inspect all cargo
b) letting every ship through and then requiring them to fax a cargo manifest to Tel Aviv
c) STOPPING ALL SHIPS FROM ENTERING GAZA AND ROUTING THEM TO ISRAEL FOR INSPECTION AND SORTING LIKE ISRAEL IS DOING ALREADY
d) stopping all ships from entering gaza and making them offload their cargo into the ocean for inspection
e) Obama doesn't think.