or why I talk to my computer sometimes....
As I'm reading the above linked Washington Post article on Palestine and the US decision to try to have all funding to Palestine stopped because of Hamas, I get to this statement.
On Sunday, Rice acknowledged that U.S. officials were surprised by the extent of the Hamas victory.
"I've asked why nobody saw it coming, and I hope that we will take a hard look," she told reporters, "because it does say something about perhaps not having had a good enough pulse on the Palestinian population."
She added, "I think what was probably underestimated was the depth of resentment of the last . . . decade of the corruption and the old guard and the like."
That's what irritates me most about this situation, the people of Palestine were left with realistically two choices. The corrupt Fatah Government that had allowed them to live in increasing poverty with the average income of a little over $600.00 a year with 65% of Palestine living under the poverty level. Or Hamas, who despite it's terrorist actions provides real help to the people of Palestine.
Gee, Corrupt Government that has given no appearance it will ever change or New Government that has spoken out about the Corruption for years....
They are tired of living under those conditions, and rather than place all the blame on them for selecting Hamas, how about taking some responsibility for allowing the Fatah to run unchecked with huge amounts of the 1.6 billion dollars received in foreign aid going into the pockets of Fatah rather than to really help the people of Palestine. We seem to have no problem getting funds cut off now, why wasn't that done years before when it became obvious these funds were being misued? It sure has hell isn't because we "care" about the people of Palestine, if funding is cut now things there will get even worse.
Where was the quartet then? Where was the middle east then? Obviously the majority of Palestinians got sick of waiting and the only option they felt they had? Was Hamas, that to me is not a sad reflection on just Palestine, it's a sad reflection on the rest of these "powers" that it came to that.
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14 comments:
Phew! I sure am glad I live in a country where we are not stuck with two lousy political choices.
Err...
Yeah lucky us.
:-)
Not to defend the current administration, but how long has this been happening? If we want to blame the White House, then both parties are responsible for this snafu over all the years.
The Hamas will become like the former government. From terrorists to corrupt politicians. In the end the Middle East will still be a minefield and the people will suffer. Now they will have to learn to live on $500.00 a year.
I agree C it's not just President Bush's fault, it's been going on for well over a decade and some of it even longer than that. However this latest threat of cutting their funding is his administrations decision.
I guess I would ask how could the US provide funding to a terrorist organization such as Hamas?
The palestinian people may have elected Hamas, but it is avowedly terrorist. The US can't give any aid.
I just want to know how so much surprises these people? Who could have imagined using a plane as a weapon? Who would have guessed there would be an insurgency and the Iraqis would not immediately name all their cities Georgetown? Hurricane Katrina snuck up on us somehow moving 8 MPH or something. And Hamas won.
This administration is not solely responsible for the current Palestinian situation, but I think we can all agree that they are a little behind the curve. Even supporters have to shake their heads and say "WTF?" every once in a while.
I am hoping Hamas will surprise us. They have been working all this time from a position without any real power.
Few lessons here:
Democracy can be like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get... that's why the US has a history of funding questionable characters... (including, at some point, Osama).
Cutting all funding to the Palestinians could lead to even more resentment and to them getting funded from "other" sources... Instead of elliciting the beginning of dialog, it will assure more resentment...
Some years ago, a good number of people were having this same conversation about Sinn Fein and the IRA... Hopefully Hamas' leaders realize what path will lead them to a better situation...
Paul, I conceed to your point that the Bush administration threatened Fatah but they also gave Fatah 2 million dollars to help campaign against Hamas. Our 403 million dollars being cut would hurt Palestine but the majority of their funding comes from Europe. Which the Whitehouse is putting pressure on to cut their funding.
I have a hard time giving the President credit for this one knowing that he started out really pushing the peace process but even before Sharon had his stroke things were deterioriating. I did at one point in time give him more credit than Clinton for trying to resolve the issue of Palestine and Israel. I gave him credit for standing up and demanding that Israel not sell weapons that the US helped Israel obtain the technology for.
However, I don't think creating even worse living conditions for a group of people that have suffered far too many years to the point where they turned to Hamas to end corruption as something I can give him credit for. Especially since we as a government did nothing to stop the corruption that we knew was very deeply entrenched in Fatah.
Lisa wrote, we as a government did nothing to stop the corruption
Stop it? We encouraged it!
How can we then blame them for having had enough? They are supposed to just keep dealing with the corruption because we are going to view Hamas as worse?
Obviously in the decision of which evil do you select the majority felt Hamas was the lessor of the two evils.
Just like the country chose it's president (like I did), the lesser of two evils. Or who scares me less.
I totally can undersatnd why the pals chose Hamas over Fatah. I also understand how having declared Hama a terrorist organization, how can teh US or EU financially support a terrorist organization? I think we've painted ourselves into a corner.
I understand your statement Frank, yet I keep asking the other side of this, how can the EU not continue to support them.
Either way it's going to be a bad situation, however at the one end people are going to most likely face even more hardship than they are right now. Unless of course some of these muslim nations actually step up and provide humanitarian support.
Lisa,
I agree, but does the US really want Iran or Syria or Libya or even Saudi Arabia funding Hamas?
As for the EU, haven't they (or at least a bunch of their members) declared Hamas a terrorist organization also? If so, how can they fund them?
How can any Western nation fund an organization that wants to destabilize the West?
How does that saying go? "The palestinians never miss the opportunity to miss an opportunity?"
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