Posted on 01/27/2006 5:50:05 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
US President George W. Bush warned overnight that US "aid packages won't go forward" to the Palestinians if Hamas does not dissolve its armed wing and renounce threats against Israel.
"If they don't, we won't deal with them. Aid packages won't go forward," The US President said on CBS television in an interview after the Islamic militant group won a stunning majority in Palestinian elections.
"That's their decision to make, but we won't be providing help to a government that wants to destroy our ally and friend. I don't see how you can be a partner in peace if you don't renounce violent aims," Mr Bush said.
"They've got to get rid of that arm of their party which is armed and violent, and secondly, they've got to get rid of that part of their platform that says they want to destroy Israel," the US president said.
Earlier, US officials had warned that Washington would carry out a top-to-bottom review of its aid to the Palestinians if, as expected, their new government includes Hamas.
"If there is a Hamas government, which now appears likely, we're going to have to review all aspects of our aid program, based on our policy and our law," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
"We do not and will not give money to a terrorist organisation," he said as Washington grappled with the shock victory by Hamas in Palestinian elections and its impact on US efforts to revive the ailing Middle East peace process.
This year, the United States budgeted no direct aid for the Palestinian Authority, but plans to provide $US150 million ($200 million) to the Palestinians through the US Agency for International Development and another $US84 million ($112 million) through the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees in the Near-East, he said.
Asked whether Hamas participation in a new Palestinian government would imperil aid that goes directly to the Palestinians, McCormack replied: "I guess the short answer is you can't answer that question right now."
But, he stressed, "the international community understands that the Palestinian people have humanitarian needs; they're a poor people".
International assistance was to be a key topic when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets in London on Monday with her counterparts from the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, the diplomatic "quartet" pushing the so-called "road map" to Middle East peace.
The Hamas vow to destroy Israel is at odds with that document's requirement that the Palestinians end violence against Israel, and McCormack suggested that the ball was now in the Palestinian court.
"Now, as the process of government formation proceeds, it will be up to Hamas.
Agreed.
Good move, but he should be standing IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE U.N. ASSEMBLY and saying it...not just Hamas.
In both English and Arabic.
Arafat when he was alive would talk peace to the English press and then call for the death of Jews in Arabic.
I suspect that down the road Hamas will play the same game.
I don't believe islamic democracy works, at least with regards to creating a just and free society.
Earth to Hamas. Go get that fat goat lover Yassir's wife in Paris if you need money.
Eat dirt.
Skip the threat - just freakin' do it.
The Israelis are also making noise about terminating
cash flow to the PA, see:
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=1752
and if the article is correct (always a question
with Debka), the new and improved thugocracy in
palestine is already threatening war over it.
They may get very cranky when the money dries up.
It's outrageous that the U. S. has given millions of taxpayers' dollars to the Palestinean terrorists groups.
Yes,and why are they worrying about the "poor Palestinian people"? They're the ones who voted the murderous thugs into power,they got what they wanted-now let them pay the consequences.
Unfortunately, there's many sources of terror-funding in the ME; they would probably renounce any aid from the "US devils" anyway...
Sharon in a coma and Hamas running the Palestinian state. Things can certainly turn on a dime over there.
No, it can definitely work. The only problem is that the entire population of Palestians has been brainwashed to hate Israel and to believe that Israel has no right to exist. Fortunately for Iraq, there is a majority of people who desire an Iraq without tyranny of any sort, Islam included.
Cut-Cut eliminate it sounds better.
They're a poor people because their leaders have robbed them blind, both physically and spiritually.
I think we should use the money to purchase food from Israel for the Palestinian people. All food packages should be clearly marked with the Star of David or the US Flag (or both). No other funds should be provided.
Exactly. They live in huts, crap in buckets no matter what kind of help they're given mostly because the money goes toward savage violence. The hell with them. No longer can people say it's just a small minority causing the murder and mayhem. The majority just voted for it.
I suspect that down the road Hamas will play the same game.
Its the old Hudna trick that the Jews fall for over and over again.
from 2003 http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques/Hudna_With_Hamas.asp
Hudna has a distinct meaning to Islamic fundamentalists, well-versed in their history: The prophet Mohammad struck a legendary, ten-year hudna with the Quraysh tribe that controlled Mecca in the seventh century. Over the following two years, Mohammad rearmed and took advantage of a minor Quraysh infraction to break the hudna and launch the full conquest of Mecca, the holiest city in Islam.
When Yassir Arafat infamously invoked Mohammad's hudna in 1994 to describe his own Oslo commitments "on the road to Jerusalem," the implication was clear. As Mideast expert Daniel Pipes explained, Arafat was asserting to his Islamic brethren that he will, "when his circumstances change for the better, take advantage of some technicality to tear up existing accords and launch a military assault on Israel." Indeed, this is precisely what occurred in Sept. 2000 when Arafat & Co. launched a terror assault upon Israeli citizens.
As for Hamas, they have proven time and again their commitment to a tactical hudna — replenishing their strength during the quiet periods, then returning with increased deadliness. As recently documented by The Washington Institute, Hamas agreed to no less than ten ceasefires in the past ten years, and after every single one returned freshly armed for terror. Hundreds of Israeli citizens have paid for these hudnas with their lives.
If they want food, let them turn in their weapons for food. Othewise let these shiiits starve to death.
It's possible they may just resort to blackmail--fund us, or we'll pursue jihad. Meanwhile, they'll be using the funds to arm themselves.
Hamas doesn't care. If the U.S. and the E.U. stops aid they will just get it from another source like Iran, or ...
Like it or not you're going to have to feed them or the euros will start pouring in money (which will be used for arms). In addition, you have all the Gaza settlers who will be establishing new farms and will profit greatly from the sale of the food they produce.
Cut it, hell. End it. Let the bastards sue for it.
As usual, the Stalinist media is selective with their wording.
I predict there will be no aid cut. GW and Codi will look for some fig leaf excuse to keep funding these terrorists.
This election has already begun paying of for us.
My big question is this...Fatah/Arafat/PA/PLO are all terrorists as well...why did we fund/recognize them? The message theyre sending is that we'll give you money if you renounce your public position against Israel's right to exist and publicly say no violence...but we'll look the other way at all the backdoor activities that cause the deaths of innocent Jewish people. ALl they'll do is change the organizational charts and make up a new name and it'll be business as usual.
Question to all...how does this affect the Israeli PM election? I think ole BB Netanyhu has a chance now that he might not otherwise have had....
Craziness.
I'd rather President Bush pull the aid immediately with a promise to restore it after Hamas has renounced terrorism and set into motion programs to dispel the terrorism.
ping
You have no idea how happy I am to read this, prairie. Maybe the good thing to come out of this election is that we can stop propping up the monsters financially and Israel, when it's attacked again, can go after Hamas with the full force of their military and not be accused by the West of over-reacting.
"Like it or not you're going to have to feed them or the euros will start pouring in money (which will be used for arms). In addition, you have all the Gaza settlers who will be establishing new farms and will profit greatly from the sale of the food they produce."
No...(whether they) like it or not, we do not have to give them anything.
Let the Euros take care of (or arm) them.
...and so far the "Gaza settlers" haven't been able to figure out what to do with the Jewish built farms
I'm sure that a Shiite democracy in Iraq will translate into voting rights. Big deal. Its people will continue to be bound by the oppression of islam for who knows how long. I'm probably of a very narrow mind on this, but it's not political dictatorships I want to see replaced with democracy, it's islam I want to see eliminated.
Hamass will just outsource but control the armed component of the movement. That's what Arafat did with Fatahs.
Hamass decided to go legit when they found out how much cash can be put away in Swiss bank accounts. Just ask Hillary's friend Suha.
Farmers who were uprooted from Gaza go back to Israel and produce food again in abundant quantities while the farms they left behind were dismatled and produce NOTHING! As a matter of fact, the food packages should not only have the Star of David on it, it should also contain the message "Produced by the former farmers of Gaza".
You and I both know that food will eventually be provided. All I am saying is that money for that food should not be given to the Palestinians, the money should be given to the Israelis to purchase food from the new farms of the former settlers.
That is how this always works. The delusional call on vicious enemies not to be so vicious, or they will stop supporting them so much. The vicious enemies go right on being vicious, in sovereign contempt of the emotional needs of those who did not cut them off instantly.
Making it conditional shows you don't actually want to do it. This is instantly detected by the other side.
Then, the same reasoning that led the threat maker not to act instantly but to wait, pose conditions, hope blindly, etc, continue to operate the next day. And the next. And the next.
The PA never renounced violence. It murdered daily for two generations. And aid to it never dropped by a single penny.
First cut all the aid. Then say you might consider restoring a portion of it, conditionally, if and when Hamas sincerely renounces violence.
If you first align the status quo with the reality of the situation, conditionals can motivate others. If instead you merely align them with your hopes, there is no reason whatever for others to change their actions, on your imaginary conditions. Imaginary, because you imagine them not yet violated, when the other guy has been violately as far as in him lies since the day he was born.
violating - sorry.
"the international community understands that the Palestinian people have humanitarian needs; they're a poor people".
Here we go again, the poor innocent victim story. The "people" made their choice and now they can deal with the consequences. I would bet that if someone took a poll 80-90% of the Palestinians would want the destruction of Israel and all Jews.
You are absolutely correct! Not one word in the Constitution mandates my tax dollars for foreign governments/peoples. This is the same mindset that is sending billions to Louisiana, even though everyone SHOULD have had insurance of their own. These palestinians are the same bastards who jumped for joy on 9/11!
This should have never started- and most certainly should have stopped on 9/11.
Exactly. Words are cheap. I'll wait to see if there is substance behind the threat.
This is exactly what I wanted to hear. However, I don't expect the leopard to change its spots just because it got elected.
If some of the things I've read are true, Hamas is funded and controlled by Iran, so any funds given to the so-called "palestinian authority" are, in effect, a direct subsidy to Iran. As far as I'm concerned, the palestinians have chosen to live in squalor and hatred. This election is just the latest evidence of that and none of it can change as long as they worship a false god and follow a false prophet.
Why threaten? Just do it. Cut them off. They're a bunch of murdering parasites.
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