A Call For Assistance To the PA, Or A Guilt Trip?
Captain's Quarters has some thoughts regarding this story from Times Online where James Wolfensohn states that the world can't allow the Palestinian Authority to collapse.
JAMES WOLFENSOHN, the international envoy to the Middle East, has resigned and issued a warning of the dangers ahead if the West cuts everything but humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.
Mr Wolfensohn, a former head of the World Bank, also cautioned that the UN, charities and humanitarian organisations will not be able to fill the gap if the Palestinian Authority collapses under financial pressure.
Speaking in Washington after he ended his posting as envoy to the Quartet on the Middle East — the UN, the US, the EU and Russia — Mr Wolfensohn said: “It would surprise me if one could win by getting all the kids out of school or starving the Palestinians. And I don’t think anyone in the Quartet believes that to be the policy. I think that’s a losing gambit.”
Mr Wolfensohn stepped down on Sunday because of restrictions in dealing with the Islamic militant group Hamas, which dominates the Palestinian Government. He said that recent promises of aid from Arab states would provide only temporary relief to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, which has been unable to raise the $130 million (£71 million) a month it needs to pay 160,000 civil servants and keep services going.
He cautioned that if Israel continued to withhold authority tax revenues and maintain its restrictions on the movement of Palestinian trade and workers, by 2008 74 per cent of Palestinians would be living in poverty and 47 per cent would be unemployed. He echoed earlier warnings that fortifying NGOs could not replace the apparatus of the Palestinian Authority if it collapsed.
He also questioned whether the West wanted to bring about the collapse of the authority after spending billions since 1993 to establish it as the cornerstone of a viable Palestinian state. “Will we now simply abandon these goals?” he said. His report was also gloomy about the failure of a deal brokered last year by Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, to increase the flow of goods through the Karni crossing.
Gaza’s only goods terminal has been closed 50 per cent of the days that it has been scheduled to operate.
The Quartet met in New York yesterday to discuss whether it should replace Mr Wolfensohn. Meanwhile, Israeli officials indicated that Ehud Olmert, the incoming Israeli Prime Minister, plans to meet Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, after visiting Washington this month. It would be the first meeting between Israeli and Palestinian leaders for more than a year.
Question number 1: Why is the Palestinian Authority even worth saving, or propping up, when their people put a terrorist organization in power? This completely escapes the imagination. As Hamas is in charge of the Palestinian Authority, there should be no money--to quote Captain's Quarters "Not. One. Dime."--going to the terrorists. While it is sad, and heart-wrenching, that some will suffer because of Hamas' involvement in the government, and their unrelenting hatred for Israel, you do reap what you sow.
Maybe the Palestinians should have thought about that BEFORE they put Hamas in charge. Hamas has refused to renounce their violent ways. They have refused to condemn the terrorists, especially in light of the recent suicide bombing attack in Israel proper. Those Palestinians--the ones effectively in charge--have made their bed. They won't back down, and they won't relent, so why should they be propped up?
In response to what he considers a risky gambit, what prompts him to believe the Palestinians will use humanitarian relief for those suffering? It wasn't true under any sort of humanitarian aid rendered recently to nations that are under oppressive regimes. It wasn't true in Somalia, where Aidid provided plenty of problems for that relief mission. It isn't true now in Darfur, or then in Rwanda. How about Zimbabwe? Is the relief reaching the people that Mugabe is slaughtering? How about Saddam Hussein? Can Mr. Wolfensohn show where the Oil-For-Food program helped the Iraqi people, or any other humanitarian programs of the time? I doubt it. As a matter of fact, I challenge him to provide evidence to the contrary.
And no, that doesn't mean providing a piece of propoganda that shows a village relieved by such assistance. I want numbers. I want facts. We, at the Asylum, demand nothing less. Right now, this man is calling for the "Quartet" to let what has happened in the past be water under the bridge, and help out a terrorist organization in charge of a people who ignorantly chose them to lead.
Which begs the question that if that was the Palestinian's choice--not coerced in any overt way--then it says a lot about what the Palestinians believe. And I can assure you at this point that it's not peace. It is the status quo. It's actually a more militant version of that ideology with the election of Hamas. He claims that it would be a waste to not support the Palestinians now after years of doing so. But then the West saw the possibility of peace as Yasser Arafat's life dwindled. With Hamas at the helm of the PA, there's no such hope.
And it's a pity that people like Mr. Wolfensohn don't see that. It's not pitiful, but rather sickening, that he would stand up and defend a group that enjoys sacrificing themselves to kill innocent women and children. These aren't martyrs. These aren't heroes. Hell, they're not even real soldiers. They're murderers with no conscience. And that is a group that, hopefully, this nation will NEVER support.
Mistress Pundit
Captain's Quarters has some thoughts regarding this story from Times Online where James Wolfensohn states that the world can't allow the Palestinian Authority to collapse.
JAMES WOLFENSOHN, the international envoy to the Middle East, has resigned and issued a warning of the dangers ahead if the West cuts everything but humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.
Mr Wolfensohn, a former head of the World Bank, also cautioned that the UN, charities and humanitarian organisations will not be able to fill the gap if the Palestinian Authority collapses under financial pressure.
Speaking in Washington after he ended his posting as envoy to the Quartet on the Middle East — the UN, the US, the EU and Russia — Mr Wolfensohn said: “It would surprise me if one could win by getting all the kids out of school or starving the Palestinians. And I don’t think anyone in the Quartet believes that to be the policy. I think that’s a losing gambit.”
Mr Wolfensohn stepped down on Sunday because of restrictions in dealing with the Islamic militant group Hamas, which dominates the Palestinian Government. He said that recent promises of aid from Arab states would provide only temporary relief to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, which has been unable to raise the $130 million (£71 million) a month it needs to pay 160,000 civil servants and keep services going.
He cautioned that if Israel continued to withhold authority tax revenues and maintain its restrictions on the movement of Palestinian trade and workers, by 2008 74 per cent of Palestinians would be living in poverty and 47 per cent would be unemployed. He echoed earlier warnings that fortifying NGOs could not replace the apparatus of the Palestinian Authority if it collapsed.
He also questioned whether the West wanted to bring about the collapse of the authority after spending billions since 1993 to establish it as the cornerstone of a viable Palestinian state. “Will we now simply abandon these goals?” he said. His report was also gloomy about the failure of a deal brokered last year by Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, to increase the flow of goods through the Karni crossing.
Gaza’s only goods terminal has been closed 50 per cent of the days that it has been scheduled to operate.
The Quartet met in New York yesterday to discuss whether it should replace Mr Wolfensohn. Meanwhile, Israeli officials indicated that Ehud Olmert, the incoming Israeli Prime Minister, plans to meet Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, after visiting Washington this month. It would be the first meeting between Israeli and Palestinian leaders for more than a year.
Question number 1: Why is the Palestinian Authority even worth saving, or propping up, when their people put a terrorist organization in power? This completely escapes the imagination. As Hamas is in charge of the Palestinian Authority, there should be no money--to quote Captain's Quarters "Not. One. Dime."--going to the terrorists. While it is sad, and heart-wrenching, that some will suffer because of Hamas' involvement in the government, and their unrelenting hatred for Israel, you do reap what you sow.
Maybe the Palestinians should have thought about that BEFORE they put Hamas in charge. Hamas has refused to renounce their violent ways. They have refused to condemn the terrorists, especially in light of the recent suicide bombing attack in Israel proper. Those Palestinians--the ones effectively in charge--have made their bed. They won't back down, and they won't relent, so why should they be propped up?
In response to what he considers a risky gambit, what prompts him to believe the Palestinians will use humanitarian relief for those suffering? It wasn't true under any sort of humanitarian aid rendered recently to nations that are under oppressive regimes. It wasn't true in Somalia, where Aidid provided plenty of problems for that relief mission. It isn't true now in Darfur, or then in Rwanda. How about Zimbabwe? Is the relief reaching the people that Mugabe is slaughtering? How about Saddam Hussein? Can Mr. Wolfensohn show where the Oil-For-Food program helped the Iraqi people, or any other humanitarian programs of the time? I doubt it. As a matter of fact, I challenge him to provide evidence to the contrary.
And no, that doesn't mean providing a piece of propoganda that shows a village relieved by such assistance. I want numbers. I want facts. We, at the Asylum, demand nothing less. Right now, this man is calling for the "Quartet" to let what has happened in the past be water under the bridge, and help out a terrorist organization in charge of a people who ignorantly chose them to lead.
Which begs the question that if that was the Palestinian's choice--not coerced in any overt way--then it says a lot about what the Palestinians believe. And I can assure you at this point that it's not peace. It is the status quo. It's actually a more militant version of that ideology with the election of Hamas. He claims that it would be a waste to not support the Palestinians now after years of doing so. But then the West saw the possibility of peace as Yasser Arafat's life dwindled. With Hamas at the helm of the PA, there's no such hope.
And it's a pity that people like Mr. Wolfensohn don't see that. It's not pitiful, but rather sickening, that he would stand up and defend a group that enjoys sacrificing themselves to kill innocent women and children. These aren't martyrs. These aren't heroes. Hell, they're not even real soldiers. They're murderers with no conscience. And that is a group that, hopefully, this nation will NEVER support.
Mistress Pundit
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 9:45 PM
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