Candy a**ed british fold

[Bronx33]

How are these countries ever going to stand on their own?

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/britain-backs-palestinian-trust-fund/2006/05/07/1146940409436.html

A PROPOSED trust fund for donors to pay overdue Palestinian salaries would undercut Hamas, not strengthen it, says a British document meant to increase pressure on the US to drop objections to the plan.

Britain circulated the memo on the proposal, aimed at averting a collapse of basic services provided by the Palestinian Authority, to major donors before tomorrow's meeting of the Quartet of Middle East mediators.

The four-page document argues, in response to US efforts to block creation of such a fund, that it "will not undermine the diplomatic effort" to persuade Hamas to renounce violence, recognise Israel and abide by interim peace accords.

The US is concerned that allowing the international community to pay Palestinians' salaries would take pressure off Hamas, Western diplomats said.

But Britain argues that if Palestinians end up receiving crucial aid through channels other than Hamas, the Islamic militant group stands to lose "a big part of its street credibility and hence have an incentive to come closer to what the international community wants".

The British memo states that Western donors can fund basic services through the Palestinian Authority even "while the Hamas Government condones terrorist attacks against Israel" because the purpose of the trust fund is to give humanitarian support where possible.

"Humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people should not be conditional on actions by Hamas," the document said. But it adds that even if Washington agrees to go along with the plan, the proposed trust fund could take at least six weeks to get up and running. The British trust fund proposal is similar to those outlined in recent days by the European Union and France to ease a Palestinian salary crisis that followed the suspension of direct US and EU aid after a Hamas-led Government took office in March.

Israel has also halted its transfer of crucial Palestinian tax revenues.

Starved of funds, the Palestinian Authority has been unable to pay salaries to 165,000 public employees since March, prompting concerns of a humanitarian crisis that could trigger a rise in Middle East violence.

In an earlier memo, Britain said its goal was to try to "mitigate the decline in living standards of the Palestinian people and reduce the possibility of domestic instability by sustaining delivery of basic services such as health and education".

Under the proposal, donors would put money into the trust fund, which would then move the money directly into a commercial bank account outside the Palestinian Authority's control.

The money would be used for pre-approved services.

The International Monetary Fund has estimated $US45 million ($A58.3 million) a month would be needed for health, education and other services.

Because of aid cuts, the Hamas-led Government could be forced to subsist on as little as $US25 million a month in domestic revenues, far short of the $US140 million that is needed, the latest British document said.

[Bronx33]

Why do we even bother when these aholes will let their own people starve so they can have more free money.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2173916,00.html

THE United States, facing a possible humanitarian crisis, last night agreed with its Quartet partners to set up a “temporary international mechanism” to channel aid directly to the Palestinians, despite its boycott of Hamas.

In an agreed statement, the Quartet of the US, Russia, the EU and the UN said that the mechanism should begin operating “as soon as possible”, and ensure “direct delivery of any assistance to the Palestinian people”.

The statement was issued after Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia predicted a civil war if the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority was left to collapse.

Diplomats said that it was not yet decided how many of the 160,000-plus Palestinian Authority employees, including 70,000 security personnel, would receive their salaries through the arrangement. The government salaries, which support about one third of Palestinian families, have not been paid for two months.

The EU will take the lead in developing the funding mechanism in the coming weeks, possibly using the World Bank. The arrangement will be reviewed in three months.

“The thrust of this is the international community is still trying to respond to the needs of the Palestinian people,” Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, said.

Despite Washington’s softening on the delivery of aid, the Quartet reiterated its three-pronged demand that Hamas renounce violence, recognise Israel and accept previous peace agreements.

But the Quartet did not even try to reach an agreed policy on official contacts with the Hamas Government. Russia has invited officials from the ruling Islamic militant party to Moscow, while the EU and the US shun contact. The UN has held working level contacts with Hamas.

[Bronx33]

F*** the palestinians instead of focusing on building an economy they just waste the money givin too them, kinda like mexico in a way i would wager the hamas is running around saying kill the jews!! they quit giving us stuff!!


http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-235/0605106410184547.htm

In a fresh draconian measures aimed at narrowing Palestinian horizons, the Zionist regime has stopped all fuel supplies to the West Bank and Gaza Strip in what Palestinian officials describe as 'another pressure tactic' by the Zionist regime.

The stoppage has nearly crippled the public transportation system throughout West Bank and Gaza and caused drastic shortages in cooking gas and other fuel derivatives.

In the Gaza Strip, a bigger number than usual of mule-hauled carts were seen in the streets, carrying merchandise and even transporting people to their homes and places of work.

The stoppage was initiated by the Israeli Dor Company, the sole supplier of fuel to the pursuant an agreement reached between Israel and the Palestinian Authority more than ten years ago.

According to Mujahed Salama, head of the Palestinian Fuel Corporation, Dor notified him of terminating all fuel shipments to the West Bank and Gaza as of Monday.

Salama pointed out that the Dor company was coming under pressure from the Zionist regime to stop fuel supplies to the West Bank and Gaza Strip for political reasons, namely blackmailing the Palestinian government and further narrowing its horizons.

He added that if the Israeli company did not resume fuel supplies immediately, the present inventory would have been used up within 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has been making urgent contacts with the US and EU, urging them to pressurize Israel to resume fuel supplies to the PA areas.

Abbas reportedly described the Israeli measure as 'unacceptable blackmail'.

A spokesman for the Dor company said the stoppage of fuel supplies to 'the Palestinian areas' was the result of the Palestinian failure to secure overdue payments amounting to nearly $90 million dollars.

The spokesman denied Palestinian charges that the sanction was politically-motivated and that his company was being pressurized by the Zionist regime to stop supplying fuel to the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

However, Palestinian official Ghazi Hamed argued that the problem is first and foremost political.

"We have an agreement with that company, the problem is not the money, the problem is political. Israel is trying to scuttle this government in a sea of crises, they are saying that openly." Hamed said the PA was contemplating importing fuel supplies from Egypt.

"Imagine we could get a cooking gas canister from Egypt for one dollar whereas we purchase from Israel at nine dollars per canister.

"The Israelis are exploiting us in a very brazen and obscene manner."
PA officials believe the Israeli measure is aimed at blackmailing and bullying the Palestinian authority and government into giving more political concessions to Israel like accepting the annexation of large parts of the West Bank and abandoning aspirations to create a viable Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital.