US Freezes Aid After Palestinian Statehood Bid

[Avatar]

Surprised nobody has talked about this. I'd rather the US didn't give anybody any aid at all than that they played politics with it like this.

The Palestinains have asked the UN to recognise their statehood. In response, the US has cut off aid to them, because how dare they want their own country.

US freezes $200m in aid to Palestinians

Washington - Key US lawmakers are blocking about $200m in Palestinian aid in response to the territories' UN statehood bid, congressional aides said on Saturday.

Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have frozen the funding "until the Palestinian statehood issue is sorted out", one of the aides told AFP.

The economic package is separate from security aid, which the US lawmakers say would be counterproductive to block. They fear that withholding those funds would weaken the ability of Palestinian security forces to quell anti-Israel violence.

A coalition of Israel-backing Democrats and conservative Republican lawmakers are angered by the Palestinian bid for United Nations membership. Both the United States and Israel insist that only direct negotiations can produce an accord leading to Palestinian statehood.

Consequences

US lawmakers earlier warned against the Palestinian bid.

"There must be consequences for Palestinian and UN actions that undermine any hope for true and lasting peace," Republican representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said on September 23.

Representative Nita Lowey, the top Democrat on the House panel that oversees foreign aid, warned that the annual $500m in economic and security assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA) was at risk.

Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and the number-two House Democrat, representative Steny Hoyer, have accused Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas of shunning direct peace talks in favour of "diplomatic warfare" against Israel.

"Congress will not sit idly by. The US will likely reconsider its assistance programme for the PA and other aspects of US-Palestinian relations should the Palestinians choose to move forward in requesting a vote on statehood," they said in a joint September 22 opinion article in the New York Daily News.

--A

[[Syl]]

Aid is contingent upon the peace process or at least a nod to it. The PA said, 'F*** it, I'm going over your head." *shrug* You can't hold one hand out for money while flying the bird with the other. Let them ask the UN for aid.

[Lord Mhoram]

Just another example of the unerring US support for democracy in the Middle East. When the only free and fair election in the region in the last decade goes the wrong way (Hamas, 2006), aid is cut off and the Gazans continue to wallow in misery. When the Palestinian Authority proposes to the United Nations that a formal state be recognized along the pre-1967 borders with mutual land swaps -- which has been the international diplomatic consensus on the issue since 1967 with the notable abstention of the US and Israel -- this is viewed as unacceptable, and of course there will be repercussions for the Palestinians. This is all par for the course, and Obama, shrieks and protestations from the right to the contrary, shamelessly continues to perpetuate the militantly pro-Israel, anti-Palestine status quo.

[lucimay]

conversation ger had with mr. beren at work not too long ago:

mr. beren: ger, when is there gonna be peace in the middle east.

ger: when it stops being profitable, mr. beren.


follow the money.

[Cybrweez]

Fair and free. yep.

Does Israel not have elections?

[Avatar]

Aid is contingent upon the peace process or at least a nod to it. The PA said, 'F*** it, I'm going over your head." *shrug* You can't hold one hand out for money while flying the bird with the other. Let them ask the UN for aid.

Then it's not aid though. It's "doing what the US says" money. Maybe some recognition would help the peace process, I dunno.

--A

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Suppose, just for the sake of argument, that today everyone agreed to roll back to the 1967 borders and a two-state solution is applied.

Do you honestly think that the two states, Israel and the new Palestine, would exist side-by-side in harmony?

If you do, in my opinion you are being naive. The mutual distrust between the two peoples goes far beyond any politican boundary; instead, it is personal. There might be an initial time of peace but eventually one of them would attack the other and the whole mess will start all over again.

I suspect that the Palestinains would strike first. Groups like Hamas don't want to recognize Israel, whether it has the current borders or 1967 borders; they want no Israel whatsoever and so they will continue to do whatever they can to erase it as a nation. The Palestinian government would not be able to control Hamas, the group that is actually more of a stumbling block to peace than either nation.

[Cybrweez]

Yea, good luck gaining traction w/that view hashi. The fact that many ME nations and leaders have called for Israel to be wiped off the map has no bearing in their view of matters. Give the Palestinians some land, and they'll retract all that hyperbole...

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Yea, good luck gaining traction w/that view hashi.

I don't have my opinions because they are popular; rather, I have them because I think I am correct. *shrug*

Only time will tell.

[Vraith]

I don't want to justify Israel, they've done some nasty things...but if the things I've heard lately are correct, Palestine won't just quit if they are given some land.
For one thing, they were given some land...and used it to make easier attacks on Israel.
For another, they want to make being Jewish illegal in their shiny new state...whereas non-Jews in Israel, despite the mess and violence, generally have the same rights as Jewish Israeli citizens...and FAR more rights than they do in most Arab countries.
And the official position of the Palestinians authorities [whether the "good" ones in the Abbas camp, or Hamas] is not to recognize Israel.

[Avatar]

Do you honestly think that the two states, Israel and the new Palestine, would exist side-by-side in harmony?

Whether they do or not doesn't matter. If they don't, the appropriate steps can be taken. (I don't necessarily think that the borders need to be pre-'67 either, but that's beside the point.)

The point is that the Palestinians don't have a country. The British mandate was supposed to preserve the religious and civil rights of the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine. Denying them statehood is prejudicing those rights.

Maybe recognising their autonomy will lead to a war. But that doesn't matter. That's their responsibility, not ours.

--A

[Cail]

The point is that the Palestinians don't have a country. The British mandate was supposed to preserve the religious and civil rights of the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine. Denying them statehood is prejudicing those rights.

What country did they have prior to the Mandate?

[Fist and Faith]

I'm not sure what's wrong with US money being "Do what we say" money. It's not worse than "Give us your money, and we'll do with it what we damned well please."

I'm also not sure how we can afford to give anybody money for any reason. Aren't we in more debt than we could ever hope to pay? There's plenty of problems here that we should be using our money to fix.

[Cybrweez]

Not really fist. The US govt doesn't have to worry about debt. It can afford to pay any amount of US dollar it wants too. Separate issue than whether it should of course.

Good question cail. Also, they picked the wrong side in a war. Might is right, correct?

Here's a speech from our Leader in Iran.

Quite a lot to digest.

They stood up against the enemy with Allah's permission and as promised by God, they benefited from divine assistance: 'And surely Allah will help him who helps His cause. Most surely Allah is Strong, Mighty.' [The Holy Quran, Sura al-Hajj, Ayah 40] The resistance of Gaza in spite of a comprehensive siege was an instance of divine assistance. The collapse of the treacherous and corrupt government of Hosni Mubarak was divine assistance. The emergence of the powerful wave of Islamic Awakening in the region is divine assistance. The removal of the mask of hypocrisy from the face of America, England and France and the increasing hatred of the regional nations towards these countries are divine assistance. The repeated and innumerable problems of the Zionist regime - from its domestic political, economic and social problems to its isolation in the world, to public and even academic hatred of the Zionists in Europe - are all instances of divine assistance.

Interesting he recognizes the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe. This anti-Semitism is divine assistance.

Two points should be clarified in advance. The first point is that our demand is the liberation of Palestine, not the liberation of a part of Palestine. Any plan to divide Palestine is completely unacceptable. The two-state idea which has been presented in the self-righteous clothing of 'recognizing the Palestinian government as a member of the United Nations' is nothing but giving in to the demands of the Zionists - namely, 'recognizing the Zionist government in Palestinian lands'. This would mean trampling on the rights of the Palestinian nation, ignoring the historical right of the displaced Palestinians and even jeopardizing the right of the Palestinians settled in '1948 lands'. It would mean leaving the cancerous tumor intact and exposing the Islamic Ummah - especially the regional nations - to constant danger. It would mean bringing back decades-long sufferings and trampling upon the blood of the martyrs.

Any operational solution must be based on the principle of 'all of Palestine for all Palestinian people'. Palestine is the land that extends 'from the river to the sea', not one inch less than that. Of course it should be noted that through its elected government, the Palestinian people will run the affairs of the any part of the Palestinian soil they manage to liberate, just as they did in the case of Gaza, but they will never forget the ultimate goal.

The second point is that in order to reach this lofty goal, what is necessary is action, not words. It is necessary to be serious, not to make ceremonial gestures. It is necessary to have patience and wisdom, not engage in a variety of impatient actions. It is necessary to consider horizons that lie far ahead and to move forward step by step with determination, reliance on God and hope. Muslim governments and nations and the resistance groups in Palestine, Lebanon and other countries can each identify their share of work in this general struggle and solve the puzzle of resistance with Allah's permission.

I think the world should be behind another Islamic Republic. They've been nothing but a boon to the world.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Whether they do or not doesn't matter. If they don't, the appropriate steps can be taken. (I don't necessarily think that the borders need to be pre-'67 either, but that's beside the point.)

The point is that the Palestinians don't have a country. The British mandate was supposed to preserve the religious and civil rights of the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine. Denying them statehood is prejudicing those rights.

Maybe recognising their autonomy will lead to a war. But that doesn't matter. That's their responsibility, not ours.

--A

I agree that the responsibility for their actions will be theirs, but when--not if, when--these two keep fighting and derailing any chance for long-term stability in that region we will dragged into yet another conflict.

I think the world should be behind another Islamic Republic. They've been nothing but a boon to the world.

Sarcasm, I presume?

[Lord Mhoram]

I think the world should be behind another Islamic Republic. They've been nothing but a boon to the world.

Indeed. While we're about condemning religious states, we should ask the Gazans and those living in the West Bank how they feel about a Jewish state which denies them their right to self-determination through a brutal and illegal occupation. The concept of a Jewish state hasn't exactly been a boon for them, either.

Cail,

Sorry, what's the point of your question exactly? There was no "country" at all, for anybody, in what is now Israel before the Mandate, as you very well know.

[Cybrweez]

Hey, I don't blame Israel. I wouldn't want to live in a Sharia country either. Especially if I were Jewish.

Besides, all religions are not equal. Condemning one religious state has no bearing on other religious states. And I'm pretty sure Israel doesn't implement Tanakh law? What makes it a religious state?

[Lord Mhoram]

I'll quote Moshe Landau, Chief Justice of Israeli High Court, articulating in 1961 what is the legal consensus in Israel about its essential Jewish character:

In light of the recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their state in Israel, and in light of the recognition of the Jewish state by the law of nations, the connection between the Jewish people and the state of Israel constitutes an integral part of the law of nations...The state of Israel, the sovereign state of the Jewish people, performs through its legislation the task of carrying into effect the right of the Jewish people to punish the criminals who killed their sons with intent to put an end to the survival of this people...The state of Israel was established and recognized as the state of the Jews...It would appear that there is hardly need for any further proof of the very obvious connection between the Jewish people and the state of Israel: This is the sovereign state of the Jewish people...These words reflect not mere rhetoric, but historic facts, which the law of nations does not ignore.

Here's an interesting exercise. Insert "Muslim" for every time the High Court says "Jewish." You've got something that sounds like Saudi Arabia, a state we all agree is monstrous. I'll leave it at that.

[Cybrweez]

So, you think Jewish = religious? I think Jewish = Arab. So replacing Jewish w/Muslim would be a sleight of hand.

Maybe there are laws about execution for converting to Islam, or jail time for not veiling women. I just hadn't heard of them. What are the religious aspects of Israel nation? Surely its not that they refer to themselves as Jewish? You may have a case for nationalism, but not religious.

[Lord Mhoram]

Call it a "religious-ethnic" category rather than just "religious" if you like. It's an interesting question, but for our purposes here the distinction is meaningless. The point is that the expressed goals of the Israeli state -- as a home for the Disapora, a homeland for the Jewish people, "the sovereign state of the Jewish people" -- is more or less the equivalent of an Islamic Republic (a home for Muslims where Muslims are privileged) in terms of its religious categories. Of course, none of the existing Islamic republics are brutally and illegally occupying the homelands of other ethnic groups, but that's a different story I guess. No, Israel doesn't have repressive theocratic law like some of our other favorite client states (e.g., Saudi Arabia), but its brutal and illegal occupation of the West Bank and its brutal and illegal blockade of Gaza, and its rejectionism on the issue of the independence of Palestinian statehood, make it bad enough if not worse than those other states.