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Will aiding be abetting?
Look at
Hamas' actions, not rhetoric
January 31, 2006
To fund or not to fund the Palestinian government after Hamas' stunning
electoral victory last week? That's the question that the United States,
Israel and the European Union are confronting now that it seems certain
that Hamas, a terror group pledged to the destruction of Israel, will
be in charge of the Palestinian Authority.
The answer should be pragmatic, not be clouded by worst-case scenarios.
Watch what Hamas does, not what it says. If Hamas continues its year-long
truce with Israel, as it has promised, it will be a sign that its
political wing may be amenable to future negotiations. If the funds
that the United States and the EU have already set aside for the Palestinian
Authority headed by President Mahmoud Abbas - who remains in office
for now - are spent to help the Palestinian people and not to carry
out terror attacks, then Hamas may buy some credibility.
Yes, it would ease everyone's minds if Hamas were to renounce its
vow to destroy Israel. That won't happen any time soon, though it
must happen at some point if Hamas wants to be taken seriously as
a government. Nor is Hamas going to disarm. That's wishful thinking.
But Hamas, which counts several credible moderates among its leadership,
may take a pragmatic approach to governing. Its leaders know they
cannot afford to give up the billions of dollars coming to the Palestinian
Authority from the United States, the European Union and Israel itself.
Without those funds, which are unlikely to be made up by Arab nations,
Hamas cannot govern, and it knows it. Its leaders made that clear
when they urged the EU not to cut funds, pledging to use the money
only to administer the Palestinian government, bring badly needed
services to its people, and rebuild the decrepit infrastructure of
Gaza and the West Bank, not to fund terror attacks against Israel.
Hamas must be held to this promise.
Copyright 2006
Newsday Inc.
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