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August 1, 2007
What A Waste
Today's news tells us that in it's infinite wisdom the Bush Administration is going to send millions in aid to the Palestinian authority
The U.S. is beginning work on tens of millions of dollars worth of aid projects aimed at boosting the Palestinian economy and President Mahmoud Abbas at the expense of Hamas. ...The $2.5 million project, commissioned by the U.S. Agency for International Development, had been suspended after the January 2006 victory by the militant movement Hamas in Palestinian elections. The project got the green light after Mr. Abbas dismissed the Hamas government because of its violent takeover of the Gaza Strip.
What a waste of money.
Sarcasm aside, the reality is that there isn't much to choose from between Abbas' Fatah and Hamas.
Fatah is only "better" than Hamas in that at the moment they're shooting fewer people. Abbas, like Yassir Arafat, has learned to play the PR game. He's now considered the "moderate".
Fatah is a terrorist organization. It's charter calls for the destruction of Israel, and it's leaders still insist on the "right of return". Mahmud Abbas, Abu Mazen, or whatever name he goes by these days, is a holocaust denier who in his 1983 Ph.D disseration says that the "Zionists" were involved in a scheme with the Nazis to steal Arab land.
It is foolish of us to try and play Fatah off against Hamas. Ever since at least the 1993 Oslo Accords the United States and Israel have been trying to "strengthen" the "moderate" fatah against those we perceived were more radical. This strategy has resulted in neither a peace settlement nor a reduction in the strength of the radicals.
Despite what I just said I do not blame President Clinton for our current situation. While I think his strategy flawed, he did do the right thing in 2000 by inviting Yassir Arafat and Israeli PM Ehud Barak to Camp David in an attempt to hammer out an agreement. That it failed was soley the fault of Arafat.
I do blame the Bush Administration for continuing this flawed strategy. Not only does it not work for reasons discussed above, it puts a lie to the "with us or against us" regarding terrorism. Apparently only al Qaeda, and maybe Hezbollah, count as terrorist groups.
No Aid and No State
Not only do the Palestianians not deserve our aid, they do not deserve their own country. I used to buy into the "two state solution", but not anymore. It's not simply that they squander our aid, they vote terrorist organizations like Hamas into power. Those who say that we must "respect" the vote because it was (allegedly) "free and fair" are at best making a fake argument, at worst are moral idiots.
If the Palestinians vote for Hamas or Fatah they need to bear the consequences. And part of those consequences is that we stop sending them aid and refuse to meet with their leaders.
What I Would Do
My strategy would revolve around the recommendations made by Natan Sharansky in his 2004 book The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror. The idea would be to set up a series of preconditions that the Palestinian Authority would have to meet before they got any aid. More importantly, they would have to meet these requirements before we would resume peace talks.
Until then, let the Israelis finish their wall and have nothing more to do with them.
Posted by Tom at August 1, 2007 8:18 PM
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Comments
Why do you support our country pressuring the Israeli's to give up land to a people that is/was the figment of Yasser Arafat's perverted mind? It has been proven the so-called Palestinians never existed.
The reason I ask anyone why they support a two state solution justifying a people that have no heritage, currency, and have given nothing or are recorded throughout the annals of history.
How would Bush react if Olmert told us how to divide up our nation-giving 1/2 of NJ to Canada or 1/2 of Texas back to Mexico? He would not tolerate it, yet this is what he and his admin does every time they insist Olmert divide the land in Israel, which is thier Biblical right.
Lastly, this Bush said he would never support terrorists, yet supplying monies to Hamas, Fatah et al the so-called Palestinians is doing just that.
I think before anyone questions why I do not support Bush and his admin anymore needs to take a closer look at the hypocrisies Bush himself has created.
I loathe hypocrites.
Posted by: Layla at August 3, 2007 2:35 PM
I think you need to go back and reread my post, Layla.
Nowhere do I advocate that Israel give up its territory. But I guess it depends on your definition of "its territory". In an ideal world, Israel would return to its pre-1967 borders and the Palestinians would get a state on what we call the West Bank, what some Israelis call Judea and Samaria.
But as I pointed out, today that is not a viable solution. The Palestinians are simply not to be trusted with their own state.
I realize that there is an argument that says that Israel has a historical right to Judea and Samaria, and that this claim is stronger than the people who we call "Palestinians" have to that same bit of territory. I don't buy into the argument that one side has a stronger historical claim than the other.
My bottom line is that while Israel should not build any more settlements, the Palestinians should not get their own country until they can learn to behave themselves.
Posted by: Tom the Redhunter at August 4, 2007 11:01 AM
