European Union slams Hamas, but pumps money into Gaza

Top EU official: Hamas fully responsible for Gaza war

Hamas bears full responsibility for the war in Gaza, a top EU official said, calling the group "a terrorist movement."

"At this time we have to also recall the overwhelming responsibility of Hamas," Louis Michel [pictured above], European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, told reporters. "I intentionally say this here [in Gaza] - Hamas is a terrorist movement and it has to be denounced as such," Michel said.

"Public opinion is fed up to see that we are paying over and over again - be it the [European] commission, the member states or the major donors - for infrastructure that will be systematically destroyed," he said.

Reuters quoted the EU official as saying that the Islamic group had used civilians as "human shields" by placing operatives in residential areas, and said that the years of terrorist rocket-fire on southern Israel served as a "provocation."

A Hamas official, Mushir al-Masri, was quoted by Reuters as saying his group was "shocked" at Michel's comments.

Michel [then] announced $74 million in emergency aid for Palestinians.
[Jerusalem Post]


West Can Help By Passing Up Hamas -Natan Sharansky [pictured above]

We should expect that [money] will start pouring into Gaza. Whoever is in charge of receiving and distributing these funds will hold the keys to power there for the foreseeable future.

[W]e should do everything in our power to deepen Hamas' political isolation rather than relieve it. This means working with the PA. But the PA can't be the answer, either. It is, simply, far too corrupt.

[When I was] Minister of Industry and Trade in the Israeli government, I saw this corruption first-hand: Public money was routinely funneled into private accounts; joint economic ventures benefited the family businesses of PA leaders; and Palestinian employees were forced to give up a significant part of their salaries as kickbacks to bureaucrats. Hamas was elected, after all, because of popular backlash against the PA's corruption.

The answer is the creation of an international body that makes sure that every project contributes directly to Palestinian life, not politics.
(Bloomberg)