Palestinian PM defiant despite aid cut

[verte76]

These people are never going to get a clue. Sigh......here's the whole story.

Palestinian PM defiant despite aid cuts
Sunday, April 9, 2006
GAZA - Reuters


Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said on Saturday his government would not bow to foreign pressure to recognize Israel and disavow violence despite funding cuts that are pushing the Palestinian Authority to financial collapse.

As Haniyeh stood firm on his refusal to moderate the policies of his militant Islamist Hamas movement, Israel stepped up pressure with a second deadly air attack against militants in two days. Two gunmen died as they drove in their car.

Since taking office last week, Haniyeh has faced violence with Israel which prompted vows of revenge by Hamas's armed wing as well as a clash with the international community over aid and tension with President Mahmoud Abbas over his powers.

The United States and the European Commission suspended direct aid on Friday to Haniyeh's new Hamas-led government until it renounced violence, recognized Israel's right to exist and supported internationally-backed Middle East peace initiatives.

"The attempts to strangle the government has one aim," Haniyeh said. "(But) they will not extract political concessions from us that will harm the rights of the Palestinian people," he said at the opening of a children's art exhibition in Gaza.

 

[melon]

Hamas must figure that it has more to lose by moderating its ideology.

Melon

 

[verte76]

The hell of it is that so-called leaders are hurting their own people big time.

 

[nbcrusader]

I guess the talk of a "two-state" Palestine meant 2 Islamic countries.

 

[verte76]

I guess the talk of a "two-state" Palestine meant 2 Islamic countries.

Obviously. No Jews allowed.

 

[A_Wanderer]

Hamas must figure that it has more to lose by moderating its ideology.

Melon

Nature abhors a vacuum, if Hamas moderates then another group will take it's place.

Case in point

THE festering refugee camp of Khan Yunis, where the stench of sewage hangs over potholed dirt roads and concrete blockhouses crowded with 270,000 Palestinians, has long been fertile soil for radical groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Now there are growing indications it is also becoming a breeding ground for Al-Qaeda.

Palestinian security officials claim to have growing evidence that Osama Bin Laden’s terror network, which has hitherto shown little interest in Gaza and the West Bank, is recruiting among the angry young men who see little beyond a future of attacking Israel.

The organisation has been helped by the lawlessness that has engulfed the Palestinian territories since Hamas emerged as the surprise winner of parliamentary elections on January 25 and formed a government.

“There is such despair in Gaza: some are ready to sacrifice anything and this creates fertile soil for growing Al-Qaeda,” said Ashraf Juma, a former Fatah fighter who spent 18 years in Israeli prisons and is now a Palestinian legislator representing Rafah — a city that like nearby Khan Yunis is an ideal recruitment area.

“They support Al-Qaeda because they are angry at the American support for Israel and they see Al-Qaeda hurting the Americans. We have a proverb to describe this: ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend’.”

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