From THE JERUSALEM POST, Jul. 24, 2009, by YAAKOV KATZ and HERB KEINON:
Increasingly concerned that Hamas will steal money donated for Gaza's rehabilitation, the Defense Ministry distributed a document this week revealing that unions affiliated with the terrorist group have set up joint committees with UN agencies that dispense humanitarian aid.
The document was distributed to the Foreign Ministry, Finance Ministry and the Israeli intelligence community, and was also sent to the United States to warn it that the $900 million it has pledged to help rebuild the Gaza Strip could fall into Hamas hands.
"All humanitarian aid sent into the Gaza Strip today needs to receive Hamas clearance," a senior defense official told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. "Hamas uses violence against international organizations, including UNRWA, if they do not cooperate."
Hamas recently published an ad in a Palestinian newspaper warning that "whoever does not follow its orders will be forced to leave Gaza."
...So far, Hamas has taken control of millions of dollars transferred monthly by Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad ...
5 comments:
Don't forget that Hamas was democratically elected in a free and fair election.
Mack
If you're trying to legitimise Hamas, then you are morally bankrupt.
Try this thought experiment: If I get a group of people together and in a "free and and fair" vote, we decide to murder you ...does that legitimise the crime?
Also consider this: Hitler was initially "elected" but then took dictatorial control with the most brutal force on Earth.
Hamas did the same. It was elected in 2006 and then about a year later took control by force, which included throwing their political opponents off tall buildings.
See this form of political debate by Hamas: http://www.road90.com/watch.php?id=rZIwlvfsAe.
During Operation Cast Lead, it used the cover of the war to "clean out' other political opponents, using extreme violence, which is the norm for them. (See http://www.road90.com/watch.php?id=3NaX3HqguX)
Not to mention the genocidal aims of the organisation, as published in their charter.
QUOTE
"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory).
"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up... "
"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors..."
"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews..."
UNQUOTE
So, Mack, do you seriously consider Hamas a legitimate "political" force???
When you say Hamas is terroristic, I am 100% with you. Their "armed resistance" mostly means terrorism, which, apart from being criminal and immoral, is politically stupid (because counterproductive).
None of this, however, changes the fact that they were (probably for lack of a better alternative) democratically elected, which should make them a legitimate organization to receive aid (it's up to the donors how they want their aid to be channeled into reconstruction and and other humanitarian work). Besides, I see no reason to think Hamas will put it to use any worse than most governments do.
As for your other comments, I'd like to point to an informative expose the Vanity Fair which I don't suppose you have read.
Another point I would make is that Israel engages in state terrorism that is far worse than any violence Hamas has commissioned or encouraged. By terrorism I mean the use of force against civilians to achieve political or other ends -- regardless of the agent using the force, whether individuals, small groups, or states. The immediate event which necessitated the aid is a good example.
The cease-fire had worked very well until Israel, after failing to live up to one of the crucial conditions of the cease-fire (namely, relaxing the siege), openly provoked violence, as was reported in the international press [1,2], as well as in the US [3-5] (though in the US it was buried under much else). Hamas stupidly retaliated by throwing fire crackers at southern Israeli territory, giving Israel the pretense to come level Gaza to enhance their "deterrence capacity". The Israeli press was not at all diffident to report that the operation was planned well in advance.
To my mind, how the US can give aid to Israel is the real question. If you need documentation on any of my factual assertions, I'd be happy to provide it.
1. Rory McCarthy. "Ceasefire under threat as six die in Gaza raid." The Guardian, November 6, 2008.
2. James Hider. "Back in the line of fire: rocket war resumes after raid on 'kidnap plot tunnel.'" The Times, November 6, 2008.
3. Isabel Kershner. "Israeli Strike Is First in Gaza Since Start Of Cease-Fire :[Foreign Desk]." New York Times, November 5, 2008, Late Edition (east Coast).
4. "Hamas Fires Rockets At Israel After Airstrike." The Washington Post, November 5, 2008.
5. Joshua Mitnick. "World News: Palestinians Bombard Israeli Towns In First Serious Test of Cease-Fire." Wall Street Journal, November 6, 2008, Eastern Edition.
Mack
Nothing you've said justifies your assertion that Hamas is "a legitimate organization to receive aid..." A bunch of murdererous terrorists cannot be trusted not to divert aid to more terrorism.
The vanity Fair article posuts that US has made strategic blunders that have benefitted Hamas. But that doesn't mean, as the article implies, that now US and everyone else should accept the consequences...The logical conclusion is: if it was a mistake, undo it - destroy Hamas.
As for your assertion that "Israel engages in state terrorism that is far worse than any violence Hamas has commissioned or encouraged..." - well, as the proponent of the castle liked to say: "you're dre-e-e-aming, sunshine...."
Mack, are you still there?
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