U.S. lifts Palestinian embargo
Remember when the PA was a terrorist group?:
Excerpt:
U.S. lifts Palestinian embargo
By Joseph Curl
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
June 19, 2007
The Bush administration yesterday lifted economic sanctions and a diplomatic embargo against the Palestinian Authority after its expulsion of the Islamist group Hamas, which seized the Gaza Strip last week.
Seeking to strengthen President Mahmoud Abbas by resuming direct U.S. aid, the administration moved swiftly after Mr. Abbas ousted Hamas from his national security council, installed an emergency Cabinet and outlawed the terrorist militia, which calls for the destruction of Israel and the death of all Jews worldwide.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that she told new Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad of the decision to end the 15-month-old embargo in a telephone call.
“I told him the United States would resume full assistance to the Palestinian government and normal government-to-government contacts,” she told reporters at the State Department.
“We intend to lift our financial restrictions on the Palestinian government, which has accepted previous agreements with Israel and rejects the path of violence. This will enable the American people and American financial institutions to resume normal economic and commercial ties with the Palestinian government,” Miss Rice said.
In another major boost to Mr. Abbas, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana announced yesterday in Luxembourg that the 27-nation bloc would resume direct financial aid — hundreds of millions of dollars — to the Palestinian Authority now that Hamas is no longer part of the government.
Mr. Abbas’ Information Minister Riyad al-Malki told reporters after the new government met in the West Bank city of Ramallah that “the government will pursue its jurisdiction over all parts of the homeland, regardless of what happened in Gaza.”
In the past week, Hamas has seized control of Gaza by force, winning a series of battles with Mr. Abbas’ Fatah movement and executing its members.
The last time I checked, they still were. When Israel relinquished control of the Gaza strip and hastily withdrew from Lebanon, warring terrorist factions duked it out. In Gaza, the extremist bad guy with the most toys won– Hamas, that is–and Hezbollah promptly set up shop in Lebanon, thereby creating yet another threat to security. The icing on the cake is our re-newed diplomatic relations with the Palestinian Authority, because Mahmoud Abbas kicked out a political rival? Any stability in the Middle East would be a welcome sight but the problem is, every inch given to extremist combatants, results in a mile.
Look, the very idea of a “moderate Palestinian” is an oxymoron. Every group over there has a long, bloody, brutal history with a reputation for being just as bad, if not worse than the ones they replace.  One way to look at it is as a survival mechanism, much like a gang. Any one of them giving the appearance of cooperation with Israel or the U.S. is met with retaliation, both politically and militarily. Even if they wanted to, the Palestinian Authority doesn’t have the clout to pull off a full-fledged independent state, capable of stability and prosperity. Founded by the late Yasser Arafat, it still harbors and supports terrorist cells; only cracking down when it’s convenient.
President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are backing Mahmoud Abbas in his fight against Hamas, pinning their hopes on “a reasonable voice amongst the extremists.”
The last ‘reasonable voice’ among the Arabs was Anwar Sadat. Remember what happened to him?
Category: Foreign Policy, Terror War
