Israel Matzav

US and EU taxpayers paying Hamas

Well, if you're going to pay one terrorist, you have to pay them all, right? Yesterday, the US and the EU decided to lift their boycotts against the 'Palestinian Authority' now that the good terrorist, Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen has installed former Finance Minister Salam Fayyad to be his puppet Prime Minister. Fayyad announced this morning that he is going to pay his bills. The first bill he is going to pay is all those back wages to all those excess 'Palestinian Authority' employees - especially the ones from the 'security services.' And of course he's going to pay all those employees who are 'bad terrorists' from Hamas. Say what?

The new Palestinian government headed by Salaam Fayad will use international aid to pay salaries to all civil servants of the Palestinian Authority, including those who are affiliated with Hamas, PA officials here said Monday.

"The new government is in charge of all the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip," said one official. "All those who are on the payroll of the Palestinian Authority will soon receive full salaries."

Another PA official said Fayad's government will allocate millions of dollars to "support the people of the Gaza Strip." He added: "We're not going to give money to the Hamas government there, but we can't ignore the people. We will find ways to channel funds directly to the people."

Wait. I know how they can do that: let them bring it in cash in suitcases! But wait: there's more.

PA officials here expressed hope that the resumption of financial aid would bolster Fatah's standing among the Palestinians in the West Bank. They also called on Israel to offer the Palestinians a "political horizon" to boost the credibility of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah.

Can we go back to what the author of this article, Khaled Abu Toameh wrote on Friday:

US-backed efforts to undermine the Hamas-led government over the past 16 months have failed, largely because most Palestinians clearly do not regard Fatah as a better alternative to Hamas. In the aftermath of its defeat in the 2006 election, Fatah failed to draw the conclusions and get rid of all the icons of corruption among its top brass. Moreover, Fatah did not engage in any kind of internal reforms, and representatives of the young generation remained marginalized.

...

BY OPENLY embracing Abbas and Fatah, Washington has caused them grave damage. The weapons and funds that were supposed to boost Fatah ahead of a confrontation with Hamas have only increased Hamas's popularity on the streets of the Gaza Strip. The public support for Fatah made Abbas and Muhammed Dahlan look, in the eyes of many Palestinians, like Antoine Lahad, the former commander of the pro-Israeli South Lebanon Army. And when a Palestinian sees that the Americans are trying to bring down his democratically-elected government, his sympathies go straight to the government and not to those allegedly involved in the conspiracy.

Can someone please explain to me why Israel trying to do the same thing will bring a better result than the US trying to do it?

Anyway, for those of you in the US and the EU and Israel, that's your tax dollars at work. Back to today's article:

"Israel should reassess its entire policy now," said Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for Abbas. "If Israel wants to salvage the peace process, it must halt the construction of the fence and settlements and halt all its security measures in the West Bank, including detentions, assassinations and closures."

Yeah, right. And when 25 Israelis get murdered and 150 injured by the next suicide bomber - God forbid - we will have Ehud Barak in his nasally voice telling us that 'we will know' when and how to hit the terrorists. Just like in 2000-2001. No. Please not that again.

And Fatah and Hamas are still friends:

Former PA Justice Minister Nahed al-Rayyes of Fatah heaped praise on Hamas for "liberating the Gaza Strip from all the corrupt and criminal gangs." The Palestinians, he added, owe Hamas and its armed groups a lot for ridding the Gaza Strip of corrupt Fatah leaders. "We must thank Hamas for cleaning the Gaza Strip," he said. "They have prevented the Palestinians from falling into the hands of mafias and gangsters."

Meanwhile, the civil war continues in Judea and Samaria:

Fatah gunmen in the West Bank on Monday continued their attacks on Hamas figures and institutions.

In Ramallah, they raided and torched the home of Abdel Aziz Dweik, Speaker of the Hamas-dominated Palestinian Legislative Council, who is in an Israeli prison.

In Nablus, Fatah gunmen kidnapped Hassan Safarini, a top political leader of Hamas. Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, published the names of 32 Hamas figures in the city who are wanted by Fatah.

Hamas officials said more than 200 of their supporters and representatives had been kidnapped or detained in the West Bank over the past week. In addition, dozens of Hamas-affiliated institutions have been destroyed and looted by Fatah gunmen.

Of course the world media ignores all that stuff. And then there's Marwan the murdering moron Barghouti - whom some Israeli government ministers suddenly want to release from jail:

In a statement from his Israeli prison cell, West Bank Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti called for the formation of a new leadership for Fatah in the Gaza Strip.

He also urged Abbas to get rid of the commanders of the PA security services and to appoint new heads capable of reforming these forces.

Barghouti condemned the "military coup" staged by Hamas as a serious threat to the unity of the Palestinian territories. "I consider this coup as a threat to the democratic experience and option upon which Hamas won in the elections," he said, voicing support for Fayad's new cabinet.

The world has gone mad.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:47 PM