Word: gaza
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...hard-line Hamas government holds its first cabinet meetings, it is legally necessary and morally proper to reassess American aid flowing into the West Bank and Gaza. And while it is only natural to consider Hamas’s reprehensible founding charter and past suicide bombings of Israeli civilians in making decisions about aid, it is equally important to make these decisions in light of the fact that Hamas won power democratically in a relatively free and fair election...
...addition, curtailing or canceling these programs would weaken Hamas’s adversaries, not Hamas. Organizations receiving USAID funding are the closest thing to allies that America has in the West Bank and Gaza; they already sign a pledge that they will not support terror organizations or terrorists. America should redouble its efforts to strengthen these groups, not abandon them...
Most fundamentally, after vocally supporting democratization in the Middle East (and Palestinian elections in particular), the U.S. has an obligation not to retaliate immediately against the Palestinian people for their democratic choice. Cutting aid to NGOs and entrepreneurs in the West Bank and Gaza before the Hamas government takes any meaningful action would be a thinly-veiled attempt to retaliate against Palestinians for choosing Hamas over Fatah. Maher Awartani, a Palestinian-American youth participation specialist at a USAID-funded project in Ramallah, rightly notes that cutting such funding in response to the recent elections would demonstrate to Palestinians that...
Progress toward lasting peace may be similarly restrained by Abbas' weak position. He must wrestle with the new Hamas government, which was sworn in last week--by videophone because Israel refused to let Hamas officials travel between the West Bank and Gaza. Israel refuses to talk with Hamas until the militants disarm and abandon their vow to destroy Israel. And Hamas leaders are incensed by one facet of Olmert's plan: if Hamas refuses to accept Israel, the Israelis will draw up permanent borders unilaterally. "Why should we recognize Israel," asks Aziz Dweik, Hamas' new Palestinian Assembly Speaker, "when Israel...
...state, renounce terrorism and give up their weapons. Relations between Israel and the Palestinians are at a low: 14 of the new Hamas cabinet ministers took the oath of office last week by videophone because Israel refuses to let Hamas officials travel by road between the West Bank and Gaza. Still, Hamas is observing a 14-month-old cease-fire with Israel, though other Palestinian groups continue to launch attacks. Last week, the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades sent a hitchhiking suicide bomber into the West Bank settlement of Kedumim. His bomb exploded in a car killing himself and four Jewish...