Why Is the Obama Administration Seeking to Sabotage Egyptian Mediation of the Gaza Conflict?

As reported by Avi Issacharoff for The Times of Israel (http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-qatar-again-working-on-alternative-ceasefire/):

"Palestinian sources in Cairo reveal that the United States and Qatar have again renewed their attempts to reach understandings on a ceasefire, as Palestinian factions meet Egyptian officials in Cairo to forge their own ceasefire proposal.

These US-Qatari understandings will also include demands on Israel to withdraw from Gaza, ease restrictions at the border crossings and allow the rehabilitation of Gaza. The new Palestinian government will handle contacts between the sides over the border crossings, importing of goods, and the passage of businessmen into Israel and Gaza after the ceasefire takes effect.

Then, at a later stage, the sides will discuss other demands like the construction of a port and the opening of the Rafah crossing.

Officials suggest that the US-Qatari initiative slows and sabotages the Egyptian efforts.

Representatives of the US administration are also in Cairo alongside a delegation that includes senior officials from Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah. Sources tell The Times of Israel that the Egyptian effort is focusing on convincing Hamas to first stop fighting on the basis of the understanding obtained after Pillar of Defense in 2012, then moving to a broader ceasefire."

Why is the Obama administration so intent upon appointing Qatar as the mediator of the Gaza conflict instead of Egypt? Qatar, known for its abuse of foreign laborers, has been bankrolling a bankrupt Hamas ever since Hamas lost the support of Iran. Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen said of Qatar earlier this year (http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl2308.aspx):

"Qatar, a longtime U.S. ally, has for many years openly financed Hamas, a group that continues to undermine regional stability. Press reports indicate that the Qatari government is also supporting extremist groups operating in Syria. To say the least, this threatens to aggravate an already volatile situation in a particularly dangerous and unwelcome manner."

Perhaps the US State Department's Jen Psaki, when not busy criticizing Israel, would care to explain Obama's peculiar preference for Qatar?

Meanwhile, the prime minister of Turkey, the other country proposed as a mediator by Kerry, has unleashed yet another rabid diatribe against Israel. As reported by Reuters (http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKBN0G30QB20140804):

"Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel on Sunday of deliberately killing Palestinian mothers and warned it would 'drown in the blood it sheds', pulling foreign policy to centre stage as a presidential race enters its final week.

Addressing hundreds of thousands of supporters at his biggest rally so far ahead of the Aug. 10 election, Erdogan again likened Israel's actions to those of Hitler, comments that have already led Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accuse him of anti-Semitism and drawn rebuke from Washington.

'Just like Hitler, who sought to establish a race free of all faults, Israel is chasing after the same target,' Erdogan told the sea of cheering supporters at an Istanbul arena.

'They kill women so that they will not give birth to Palestinians; they kill babies so that they won't grow up; they kill men so they can't defend their country ... They will drown in the blood they shed,' he said."

You will recall that according to the Israeli Channel 1 transcript of Obama's conversation with Netanyahu one week ago, Obama allegedly declared:

"I trust Qatar and Turkey. Israel is not in the position that it can choose its mediators."

As I have said in the past, Obama is no friend of Israel.