Can Hamas Be Deterred? -Steven Klein
The limited war in Gaza has left Hamas more convinced than ever that it can survive Israel's worst blows.
(Ha'aretz)
Israelis Still Under Fire
Atara Orenbuch, a mother of six children in Sderot, reports:
"Today we had two Kassam rockets.
Every time there's a Red Alert, you drop everything and run to shelter. You lose a heartbeat each time. I know my children are safe in school, but it's the journey there and back I worry about. The terrorists love that time between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. Every morning, we get into the car and we don't know how it will end. I've felt like that for eight years."
"After the war there was one week of quiet....But once the first rocket exploded after the war - that was it. The war didn't do enough."
(BBC News)
U.S. Lawmaker: Release Soldier or No Gaza Aid -Natasha Mozgovaya
A new initiative by members of the U.S. Congress seeks to condition the transfer of $900 million for the Palestinians on an end to rocket fire on Israel from Gaza and the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Rep. Shelley Berkley (Democrat-Nevada) drafted a petition to Secretary of State Clinton which demanded that the financial aid be delayed for as long as the rocket fire continues and Shalit remains in captivity.
(Ha'aretz)
U.S. Lawmakers Urge Tighter Palestinian Aid Controls
Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) blasted UNRWA's accounting practices as likely to enable Hamas to siphon off some of a new U.S. aid pledge of $900 million for the West Bank and Gaza.
If the group managed to grab 10% of that package, "the United States taxpayer would be then the number-two financial supporter of Hamas after the government of Iran," he said.
(AFP)
Can We Give to Gaza Without Giving to Hamas? -Claudia Rosett
If stuffing billions worth of aid into the Palestinian territories could end Islamist terrorism out of Gaza, it might be worth the money. The broad aim of the donors' conference in Sharm el-Sheikh was to bypass the Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists who control Gaza, and shovel resources for strictly humanitarian uses into the enclave "in coordination with" the Palestinian Authority, run by Fatah, Hamas' rival, based in the West Bank.
This is despite a record which suggests that decades of aid to the Palestinians have fostered not peace but continuing violence.
The likelier scenario is that this new multibillion-dollar wave of aid will boost Hamas, which is dedicated to the destruction of Israel and hostile in its principles to Western democracy. As long as Gaza is controlled by Hamas, any aid funneled into the enclave is one dollar less that Hamas might be impelled to spend on upkeep of its turf, and one dollar more available for terrorist activities.
(Forbes)
Hillary Clinton and George Mitchell Will Not Succeed -Shmuel Rosner
What have we heard from Clinton?
More money to the Palestinians in the hope that this time it will be actually given and used wisely. More subtle pressure to "ease" conditions for Palestinians, without regard to the fact that closing the Gaza border is one of very few tools with which Israel can try to pressure Palestinian radicals into ceasing their fire. More talk about "Quartet demands" to Hamas - demands that it did not meet in the past and has shown no desire to meet in the future.
More "vigorous" diplomacy cannot change the current situation.
[New Republic]
Hamas isn't open to compromise -Barry Rubin
Perhaps it is true that peace can only be made with enemies, but this is only true regarding those who no longer want to be enemies.
[T]o add Hamas to the PA would not make a more moderate Hamas, but a more radical PA. It would, in fact, destroy any possibility for peace whatsoever.
Hamas is not going to be changed by any soft-line approach, no matter how much people wish that were the case. The answer is to defeat them by supporting their would-be victims; to show that moderation pays and fanaticism costs dearly.
(Guardian-UK)
Not the Time for a Palestinian Unity Government -Yossi Alpher
The emergence of a Palestinian unity government in the near future could be a disaster. A new unity government almost certainly means a formula for holding elections for the PA presidency and parliament no later than next January. As matters now stand, Hamas is liable to win those elections, since the Fatah party has been neither reformed nor rebuilt. Thus, a unity government could quickly confront Israel with the challenge of Hamas rule in the West Bank as well as Gaza.
[Bitterlemons.org]
*
The limited war in Gaza has left Hamas more convinced than ever that it can survive Israel's worst blows.
(Ha'aretz)
Israelis Still Under Fire
Atara Orenbuch, a mother of six children in Sderot, reports:
"Today we had two Kassam rockets.
Every time there's a Red Alert, you drop everything and run to shelter. You lose a heartbeat each time. I know my children are safe in school, but it's the journey there and back I worry about. The terrorists love that time between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. Every morning, we get into the car and we don't know how it will end. I've felt like that for eight years.""After the war there was one week of quiet....But once the first rocket exploded after the war - that was it. The war didn't do enough."
(BBC News)
U.S. Lawmaker: Release Soldier or No Gaza Aid -Natasha Mozgovaya
A new initiative by members of the U.S. Congress seeks to condition the transfer of $900 million for the Palestinians on an end to rocket fire on Israel from Gaza and the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Rep. Shelley Berkley (Democrat-Nevada) drafted a petition to Secretary of State Clinton which demanded that the financial aid be delayed for as long as the rocket fire continues and Shalit remains in captivity.
(Ha'aretz)
U.S. Lawmakers Urge Tighter Palestinian Aid Controls
Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) blasted UNRWA's accounting practices as likely to enable Hamas to siphon off some of a new U.S. aid pledge of $900 million for the West Bank and Gaza.
If the group managed to grab 10% of that package, "the United States taxpayer would be then the number-two financial supporter of Hamas after the government of Iran," he said.
(AFP)
Can We Give to Gaza Without Giving to Hamas? -Claudia Rosett
If stuffing billions worth of aid into the Palestinian territories could end Islamist terrorism out of Gaza, it might be worth the money. The broad aim of the donors' conference in Sharm el-Sheikh was to bypass the Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists who control Gaza, and shovel resources for strictly humanitarian uses into the enclave "in coordination with" the Palestinian Authority, run by Fatah, Hamas' rival, based in the West Bank.
This is despite a record which suggests that decades of aid to the Palestinians have fostered not peace but continuing violence.
The likelier scenario is that this new multibillion-dollar wave of aid will boost Hamas, which is dedicated to the destruction of Israel and hostile in its principles to Western democracy. As long as Gaza is controlled by Hamas, any aid funneled into the enclave is one dollar less that Hamas might be impelled to spend on upkeep of its turf, and one dollar more available for terrorist activities.
(Forbes)
Hillary Clinton and George Mitchell Will Not Succeed -Shmuel Rosner
What have we heard from Clinton?
More money to the Palestinians in the hope that this time it will be actually given and used wisely. More subtle pressure to "ease" conditions for Palestinians, without regard to the fact that closing the Gaza border is one of very few tools with which Israel can try to pressure Palestinian radicals into ceasing their fire. More talk about "Quartet demands" to Hamas - demands that it did not meet in the past and has shown no desire to meet in the future.
More "vigorous" diplomacy cannot change the current situation.
[New Republic]
Hamas isn't open to compromise -Barry Rubin
Perhaps it is true that peace can only be made with enemies, but this is only true regarding those who no longer want to be enemies.
[T]o add Hamas to the PA would not make a more moderate Hamas, but a more radical PA. It would, in fact, destroy any possibility for peace whatsoever.
Hamas is not going to be changed by any soft-line approach, no matter how much people wish that were the case. The answer is to defeat them by supporting their would-be victims; to show that moderation pays and fanaticism costs dearly.
(Guardian-UK)
Not the Time for a Palestinian Unity Government -Yossi Alpher
The emergence of a Palestinian unity government in the near future could be a disaster. A new unity government almost certainly means a formula for holding elections for the PA presidency and parliament no later than next January. As matters now stand, Hamas is liable to win those elections, since the Fatah party has been neither reformed nor rebuilt. Thus, a unity government could quickly confront Israel with the challenge of Hamas rule in the West Bank as well as Gaza.
[Bitterlemons.org]
*
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