An interesting dilemma for Israel. From AP:
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel agreed Sunday to transfer the equivalent of about $60 million Cdn in desperately needed tax money to the Palestinian Authority, but said it might freeze payments after the Islamic Hamas group forms the next Palestinian government.Israel's monthly transfer of the taxes and customs duties it collects on behalf of the Palestinians is crucial to the functioning of the Palestinian Authority. Halting the payments would deepen the government's financial crisis and add to the growing international pressure on Hamas to renounce violence and recognize Israel before it takes power.
The Israeli cabinet made its decision as violence flared across the region.
Early Sunday, Israeli aircraft fired missiles at a Gaza City facility used by the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades - a militant group linked to the Fatah party - killing three militants and wounding five others. A second air strike and an artillery barrage claimed no casualties. The Israeli military said the strikes were meant to deter rocket fire from Gaza. A rocket launched Friday wounded a baby and two adults in southern Israel.
In the central Israeli town of Petah Tikva, a Palestinian assailant killed a woman and wounded four other people in a stabbing rampage on a bus. Police said the attack was politically motivated. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Also Sunday, a Palestinian man was killed in an explosion in a village near the West Bank city of Ramallah, hospital officials said. It appeared the man had been handling a bomb, the officials said. The Israeli army denied any connection to the explosion...
It would not bother me one bit if the US launched a cruise missile to take out Olmert for his terror supporting policies.
Just give me a few minutes notice so I can move my car.
Taken with the threat of pulling the aid when Hamas forms the government, I see this as Israel yanking the puppet strings, just in case the Palestinians, still flush with the Hamas victory, forget that as a terrorist "state," they're living on borrowed time.
It seems to serve as a reminder to the Palestinians that it is their choice, based on their behavior, of how miserable they want to be under this bunch that they've chosen to govern them.
If the Hamas government chooses poorly (place your bets), Israel has far more means of leverage than just military action.
Carrot. Stick. F-16. All options are on the table.
But why give it in cash (if at all)?
Goods make more sense. Vaccines, food (Jaffa oranges), school books (without the Hamas-oriented anti-semitic 'history' thrown in), clothing (lots of Isaac M. fashions), etc.
That way it will be paid to the Israeli producers, not the Hamas traducers.
Think Ehud! Think!
Giving this money to the PA a few weeks before the Hamas takeover is the same as giving the money to Hamas. Israel should have learned by now that paying jizya only encourages more extortion and terror. We often discuss Islamo-Christians but this is a direct example of Islamo-Jews.
Israel should give this money to non-Islamic NGOs working in Palestine. Or fund the Palestinian Christians directly so they can break free of the the PA. It could also be used to reverse the massive exodus of these Arabic Christians from the Middle East.
One reason Hamas won so big is they used their money to provide basic social services where the PA failed. This caused many non-religious Palestinians to vote for them as a rejection of Fatah's corruption and incompetence. It was kind of like old Italians who said "I'm not a Fascist but at least Mussolini made the trains run on time."
Israel should direct all finances and recognition to non-Islamic groups so they can undermine Hamas' success in this area. A massive realignment has occured among Christian Palestinian nationalists and Israel would be wise to use this to its advantage. This money would go a long way to forging a permanent Jewish-Christian alliance which is needed now more than ever.
Olmert should learn from the Ketuvim: "Where there is no vision, the people will perish" (Proverbs 29:18).
Shy Guy:
Here's your few minutes notice. (Wink). Go move your car.
I like your idea, profitsbeard-- much harder to embezzle than cash... though the conspiracy theorists would have a field day with the vaccines. Hungry-but-brainwashed Palestinians would hurl the oranges at Israeli forces. The men would wear the high fashion clothing donations ("It's not a skirt, it's an izar! And it's fabulous!) and still have the womenfolk wearing tents. Damned if we do, damned if we don't.
I'd prefer "we" (the West, collectively) had no part in the aid at all, but in my post above I was trying to sort out what possible, indirect gain Israel might be angling for by beginning payments-- it doesn't sound like the PA is getting the $60 million CDN, or $23.75 US (just kidding!) in a lump sum-- and pulling out the rug once Hamas is formally in power.
Sympathetic as one must be to Israel for all of the unfair treatment it has received, not least in Europe, and understanding as one must be for the hothouse atmosphere, and the in-fighting, and the unwillingness to believe that the enmity one faces is not to be assuaged by anything one does by way of giving up one's own rights for the enmity is based on something else, on Israel's very being, that is a state run by, and for, non-Muslims, in the heart of what is regarded as Dar al-Islam. There is nothing Israel can do to win over the Arabs, and its only hope is the concept of Darura, or necessity (for more on this, google "Darura" and "Jihad Watch"), which can be invoked by Muslim rulers to avoid engaging in open warfare with Infidels if it is clear that those Infidels possess overwhelming power.
By constantly retreating, and giving up necessary strategic depth and control, the Israelis take away that Arab sense that indeed they do possess, and will continue to possess, that overwhelming power that alone justifies the refusal of Arab states to join in going in for the kill.
What other country, what other people, would be transferring funds to people whose stated purpose is to destroy that country or people, with not the slightest room for misunderstanding about it?
Whatever else Israel is, it is a model of how not to deal with, how not to articulate, the threat posed by the Jihad. For decades, before the Arabs and other Muslims felt, with the vast OPEC trillions, and the Muslim millions settled behind enemy lines, that they could indeed now show a different face, an implacable and aggressive face, the face of an Islam "that must dominate and is not to be dominated" -- already demonstrating in the countries of Western Europe that long before the demographic tipping-point they intend to push their own demands and to openly engage in the most outrageous behavior, whether directly, or indirectly by defending it on the part of others.
Israel may -- does -- consist of very brave people who deserve every support, and whose legal, moral, and historic claims, if studied in detail by those who will take the time to do so, and take the time to study as well the history of Muslim rule in that area and the demographics of "Palestine in the 19th century, are far beyond anything the Arabs can muster. But what Israel offers no guide -- not beyond the military means -- is in dealing with the larger menace of the Jihad.
The Israelis have been far too accommodating, far too unwilling to see things as they bleakly are. We who live in the more powerful, and less threatened West, do not need to emulate their behavior. In fact, the Israelis don't either, if only they could be left alone by the outside world, which displays attitudes ranging from the indifferent to the pusillanimous to the viciously hostile, with the latter being eagerly promoted by Muslim propagandists and their fellow-travellers in Western Europe for several decades now, with the results we all see.
One hopes they come to their senses, and stop doing the bidding that the world still at this point -- and not least the American administration -- appears to expect of them. It makes no sense for Israel itself.
And had the Israelis long ago identified the "Palestinian people" as merely a disguise for the Lesser Jihad, and articulated that properly, perhaps at that point, when Western Europe had not yet been brainwashed by anti-Israesl "two-tiny-peoples" propaganda, their stand might have helped to alert Western Europe to looking a bit more closely into the likely consequences -- which are now apparent to all but fools -- of Muslim migration to the Western countries.
Goodness! What good can be done by Israel witholding payments, if not to to allow western sympathies for Hamas to grow ?
As long as Hamas continues to demand the destruction and Genocide of israel, they will not be able to hide within the eagerly western deception of a "two state solution".
This deception hollered by Arafat and the PLO for the last twenty odd years was the camouflage that they used to obtain funds and the idiotic support of europeans. and more importantly it enabled them to claim victimhood and take the moral high ground from under the noses of the infidels who control Israel.
Do not forget that the PLO has always included the destruction of Israel in its charter- which was NEVER ammended despite numerous promises from Arafat.
Surely it is easy for readers of this site to acknowledge that the more exterminationist the rulers of "palestine" are, the more Israel will be justified in self defence. And the less its treacherous leftists will be allowed to undermine its resolve to exist.
The last thing Israel should want is for Hamas to mutate into another PLO!
Israel needs a Palestinian state that will be forced to take responsibilities for its action, just like any other nation.
Then no one can take away its right to self defence.
Shinoliite-
I just wanted to be able to picture the faces of the Hamas leadership when they opened a crate that they expected to be full of hard cash and found oranges and syringes and isaac mizrahi jeans instead.
"Allahu... what the f*ck!?!"
Actually, instead of shipping them even oranges and clothing, ship them what they would have wanted in the first place with the money - remote controlled suicide-bomb belts. Plenty of them. All over the place, to Hamas members everywhere. And Islamic Jihad. And Fatah. And PFLP. In crates to each one of their offices.
Oh, by the way, keep the remote controls in Tel Aviv. And if necessary, use them.
I want to see a red line drawn in the sand throughout the world, starting in the good 'ole USA. Stop Muslim immigration and ensure that the Mosque's do not promote hate . . . although this in and of itself is problematic . . . if the liberals start to protest . . . release the transcrips along with the address and names of those 'US citizens' talking long distance to 'friends' overseas. Realize that Israel is not 'the issue,' rather a symptoms of a festering conflict with many battlegrounds. Tell Israel in no uncertain terms they will not be cut off should they stand firm against Hamasistan. Invite prominent Marionites and Copts to a pray breakfast at the White House. W has no problems meeting with US Muslims . . . why not some Arab Christians . . . or am I missing something. Promote Indian power with strong military aid to Dehli . . . and promote her historical just claims to Kashmir. Tell our friends in Pakistan, "you want aid. Good. Now give us free reign in the border regions." If this does not occur, bomb these areas, bribe the chieftans, and send in the special forces guys to flush out Bin Laden. Seems to me the statute of limitations on the cold blooded murder of 3000 Americans is longer than four and a half years. Oh, and if we do catch Mr. UBL alive(as I suspect we will), then don't treat him with deference . . . cuff him and inspect his teeth . . . with video evidence to be released like Sadam. Get out of Iraq, save for a small force in Kurdistan with a base or two there and formal linking of relations. Stop Islamic vacationing here, medical trips here, education here . . . let them stew in the holiness of their own hate. Denmark. Where is Bush on this? Not a word for this unfairly attacked people? How about a state visit by W? Invite the Danish leadership to the states for a visit showing solidarity witih them. How about a public statement by W saying, 'although making fun of any religion is bad, it is worse to kill and burn as a response, and the Muslims have to grow up." With the hundreds of freaking billions we will save on Iraq, invest it all AND MORE on a Manhattan Project to develop alternative sources of energy, mandate all automobiles must develop hybrids and better economy, drill in Anwar and everywhere else we can. End Muslim preaching in our prison system. Any further terrorist attacks in the US should be responded with boldness and imagination . . . in other words, the unthinkable must be thought through. I must admit I'm gloomy because the problem must first be recognized by our leaders before anything will be done. For the life of me, I cannot fathom why Bush does not make a statement about the cartoon controversy. Perhaps he should ponder what his hero Chruchill would do? Somehow, I doubt he duck and run.
Why give them any money?
Bad new, very bad news, feed up the beast, it isn´t a good idea.