Let's Take Our Ball & Go Home

U.S. and Europe Halt Aid to Palestinian Government

So much for supporting democracy... Now that the Palestinian people have spoken, both the US and the EU are renegging on the committments to support democracy.

If you ask me (and no one really has), the position we should have taken was that no money would be committed, promised or allowed until a reasoned government was established. When we work with dishonorable characters, we get dishonorable results. Supporting the Palestinians before they established a reasonable form of government was putting the horse before the cart. Now we look like jerks for holding back support that was promised on the condition of democracy...

Democracy without reason is for nought, which is why our Constitution protects against such results by seucring checks and balances, and protecting the rights of minorities from the tyranny of the majority... which is exactly what is going on in Palestine... A majority have used their votes to create a form of tyranny.

The United States and the European Union announced Friday that they would halt payments to the Hamas-led Palestinian government but that aid would flow to Palestinians through the United Nations and other independent organizations.

"The new Palestinian government must take responsibility for the consequences of its policies," said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, citing the failure of the Hamas-led government to meet donors' demands that it recognize Israel, renounce violence and respect previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.

The United States cutoff would affect $400 million of aid that has not yet been expended. Of that sum, however, about $100 million would be redirected to the United Nations and other non-Palestinian groups to spend for basic human needs like food, health and schools.

The total for these "humanitarian" programs would rise to $245 million because of the redirected funds. But that left $300 million in aid owed to the Palestinians suspended pending further review.

State Department officials said they were suspending $300 million partly because there were not enough organizations in the West Bank and Gaza to carry out programs. Officials said no American money would be given to the executive branch of government led by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, who has criticized the Hamas leadership for failing to reach out to Israel.

The decision on Mr. Abbas was a surprise, because American officials had earlier said that they were looking for ways to circumvent Hamas and support him directly. While the American officials gave no reason for the decision, they indicated that he had not established control over security forces and border crossings to justify giving him aid. Supporters of Israel in Congress told the administration they would object to money going to Mr. Abbas.

Asked if Mr. Abbas might eventually receive American aid for these purposes, C. David Welch, the assistant secretary of state for the Middle East, said: "Not now. But I don't rule it out, and I don't rule it in."

Mr. Welch said that, mirroring the American actions, the "broad trend" of European governments had been "supportive of the direction that we are going in" of cutting off aid to day-to-day Palestinian operations but letting money flow for "humanitarian" purposes.

The European Union's foreign ministers were to meet Monday in Luxembourg to discuss how to carry out their cutoff, but a spokeswoman said Friday that the outlines of what it would do were already clear.