Thursday - March 30, 2006

Cut Them Off!

After weeks of arguing, the “Quartet” has agreed to stop funding of a Hamas-led government in Paleswine. I predict this will last about one week, if even that long. The French and Russians are already making overtures to Hamas and the UN is utterly useless. Hamas will continue to thumb their noses at the West and suicide bombings will continue with finanical support from the rest of the Arab world.

So what do we do? Not a damn thing unless we want to risk angering our suppliers of oil. There is the whole problem in a nutshell. Oil is the proverbial Sword Of Damocles held over our heads and it won’t go away any time soon. I just hope the Arabs make hay while the sun shines because sooner or later the oil will run out or alternative fuels will replace it. The rest of the world will not forget the half century of blackmail, murder and bloodshed. The payback will be a beeyatch ...

Hamas Faces More Threats to Withhold Aid
_{March 30, 2006, 11:00 AM EST}

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP)—The United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations warned the Hamas-led Palestinian government Thursday that it must recognize Israel and seek peace talks if it wants to be guaranteed continued aid. “The Quartet concurred that there inevitably will be an effect on direct assistance to that government and its ministries” if those conditions are not met, the four mediators for Middle East peace said in a statement.

The new Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar has said the new Palestinian Authority government would not give in to international pressure to change its ways and that it had no plans to negotiate with Israel. He also condemned a decision by Canada to cut off aid to the new Hamas-led government, shortly after it was sworn in Wednesday.

The Quartet urged the new government “to commit to the principles of nonviolence, recognition of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations.” That includes the internationally backed “roadmap” for peace, drafted by the Quartet, meant to draw up a final peace accord between the two sides. “The Quartet recalled its view that future assistance to any new government would be reviewed by donors against that government’s commitment to the principles” it had set out, the statement said.

After assessing the new government program, the four “noted with grave concern that the new government has not committed to the principles spelled out” earlier this year. They lauded the call of President Mahmoud Abbas for the new government to commit to peaceful coexistence. The idea of withholding aid is not new. Since Hamas’ parliamentary election victory on Jan. 25, the West has been threatening to cut nearly $1 billion in annual aid to the Palestinians, though Russia’s recent invitation to Hamas to visit Moscow, and France’s support for the Russian approach, have cracked what was a united front.

Without money from the Arab world, Europe and the United States, a Hamas-led government would be nearly broke. Zahar, responding to President Bush’s statement that Washington would not give aid to a Hamas-led government unless it changed its extremist policies, said those comments were in line with massive U.S. financial backing for Israel, as well as support for the Jewish state in the United Nations. “America is committing big crimes against the Arab and Islamic countries,” Zahar told The Associated Press. “This new decision will intensify the gap between the American people, American interests and the Middle East in general.” He also said the United States is spending $3 billion a year “to expand settlements and to confiscate our rights and our land,” he said, referring to U.S. aid to Israel.

- More on Hamas aid here ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/30/2006 at 12:34 PM   
Filed Under: • Paleswine •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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