Predictably, with the official Hamas takeover of the Palestinian government, the Hamas disavowal of recognition or negotiation with Israel and the continuation of terrorist assaults and rocket attacks, certain actions have occurred.
Israel has decided that it will no longer provide any assistance or consideration to a government sworn to its destruction and has instituted some relatively mild sanctions, including cutting off monthly transfers of tax revenues to the Palestinian government, stepping up security precautions and restricting the movements of Hamas and other Palestinians between Gaza and the West Bank.
The US has gone on record as saying that it will cut off all aid to the new Palestinian government except bare bones humanitarian aid distributed through NGO's, and asked Abbas to return $50M in aid given to the Palestinians allocated for infrastructure projects after Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza last year.
Just as predictable is the whining (I can't put it any other way) of Palestinians like Abbas who complain that the evil Americans and Israelis are putting the Palestinian Authority in a `financial crisis' by cutting off aid and supposedly punishing the Palestinians for exercising their democratic choice.
Maybe Abbas might consider tracking down and utilizing the billions in aid given to the Palestinians since Oslo that was stolen by Arafat and his fellow Fatah mafiosos and is now nestling comfortably in hidden private bank accounts in Europe and the United Arab Emirates? J O S H U A P U N D I T: Palestinian Aid? Take a peek at where the money went.
Sura Arafat lives the lifestyle of the rich and famous in Paris with a monthly stipend provided by the Palestinian Authority of $12 million. Maybe she could take a small paycut until things improve?
Or perhaps the Palestinians can find new funding from their Arab brothers...which is how it should have been from the very beginning, if there was any justice or fairness involved in this sordid enterprise.
The truth of the matter is that the Palestinians had a free and fair election in which they were given a choice, with full knowledge of what that choice entailed. Unlike the last `election' when Arafat was a candidate, voting for the opposition didn't have terminal consequences.
No matter what the apologists tell you ( and they've certainly come out of the woodwork since Hamas took power) the Palestinians didn't just vote for less corruption or for better bus service in Ramallah. They voted for an Islamist government which promised more success in the War against the Jews.
Well and good. Democracy, if nothing else, clarifies things. But Abbas and the Palestinians can't have it both ways. When you bring a terrorist entity to power, expect that at least part of the world will react accordingly.
4 comments:
The next couple of months will be really interesting.
We'll see how many countries will start recognizing terrorists as legitimate political force.
I am sure that the US State Department has already started putting pressure on politicians.
Britain, France, Russia, Turkey and others have already recognized Hamas.
And just today, the UN took Israel to task about withholding funds from the Paletinians whosaythey want to exterminate them! No joke.
Now that they have officially taken power and have been open about not negotiating with or recognizing Israel, we'll see.
Lovely thing about democracy..it clarifies things.
The Israelis shoud not cave in to the UN pressure.
Well, we'll see. I think Olmert is pretty weak.
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