West Threatens to Cut off Palestinian Aid after Hamas Victory

Actions have consequences. The Palestinian people elected Hamas to power in last week’s elections, and that will have consequences. It affects Israel, the greater Mid-East, the US, Europe and the Palestinian people. The most direct and obvious effect will be on the treasury of the Palestinian authority. Much aid will vanish, and the Palestinians have only themselves to blame.

Yesterday, Israel refused to hand over about US$40 million in tax revenue collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. That money would go to pay for policeman’s salaries and electric bills at Ramallah town hall, but the Israelis are convinced that some of it would find its way to men and women prepared to blow up themselves and Israelis. Ethically, Israel is probably bound to hand over the money, but then, self-defense tends to trump most ethical arguments.

Moreover, the US has decided to cut off aid to any Hamas-led government. The US has spent $1.5 billion on the Palestinians since 1993, and untold billions to the Israelis since 1948. Precisely what the US got in return is hard to say, but it certainly wasn’t peace. A cogent argument can be made that all that money was taken under false pretenses and the US should sue to get it back.

The less-hard-nosed EU is taking a less-hard-nosed line. Any Hamas-led Palestinian authority has to abandon violence before the EU will help fund it – mostly. Germany’s Jelly Chancellor Angela Merkel said, “Such a Palestinian Authority cannot be directly supported by money from the EU.” Indirectly, though, anything goes, one may surmise.

Hamas, of course, is screaming “blackmail.” Apparently, Hamas believes that nations should pay to promote policies (like the destruction of Israel) that they do not want implemented. The Kensington Review prefers to think of it not as blackmail but bribery. If Hamas wants the money, it has to do certain things. There's nothing worse than a corrupt government that won’t stay bought.

Despite the rancor, Mahmoud Abbas, the non-Hamas president of the PA, said yesterday that he would continue to work for peace with Israel despite the fact that the government about to be formed refuses to recognize the Jewish state. At least, there is one man in the region who understands why the donor nations are bribing him.


© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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