Thursday, January 26, 2006
Hat tip to mal for pointing out this piece and calling it "excellent.' It is.
Ottawa Citizen: Hamas won't change its stripes by Barry Rubin
"Before I decide," I said, "tell me what you think about this issue."
"Oh," replied the diplomat, "we've already decided to deal with them."
"If you already have made up your minds," I answered, "why should I come to talk about it?"
Now, as the Financial Times says in a Jan. 18 article, the members of the European Union are preparing to do business with Hamas despite the fact that it is on their list of banned terrorist groups. Their rationale is "that heavy-handed actions by the EU could prove counterproductive, pushing Hamas further from the political mainstream."
Get it? In other words, if the EU is tough on Hamas it might become radical! Why it might even demand Israel's destruction, dispatch suicide bombers, and be anti-Semitic! (Irony watch: Yes, that is what they are already doing.)...
I have not yet seen the MSM deal with the financial aspect of the win by HAMAS. The Palestinian Authority is a charity case. It exists on the largesse of the United Nations, the European Union, and the United States. They would have no income without this support.
As HAMAS is by it's own charter a terrorist organization, dedicated to the destruction of Israel, funding from all three organizations should cease if HAMAS does not change their charter to recognize Israel and renounce terrorism as a tool of policy. Of course, other Muslim countries could support the P/A, but we already know that most won't spend their money on the Palestinians.
We have a very big stick, vis-a-vis money. Does the US, UN and EU have the guts to use it? Common sense says it should be used, but common sense and international diplomacy are often at odds.
You can read the HAMAS charter here http://www.palestinecenter.org/cpap/documents/charter.html if you have any doubts as to their aims and methods