UN plea for millions in Palestinian aid amid fears of economic collapse

UN agencies have appealed for $453m (£231m) in order to tackle the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian Territories as a result of the EU/US boycott of Palestine after the Palestinian people elected Hamas.

This disgraceful boycott of Palestine, because they dared to elect a government that we disapprove of, will surely be remembered as one of our most inane and illogical gestures. Especially as it has been carried out at a time when we are supposedly exporting democracy to the Middle East.

The hardship we have inflicted on these people is criminal.

Around two thirds of the 4 million Palestinian population were living below the poverty line and half the population were "food-insecure", meaning they could not afford the basic foods to meet dietary needs. Unemployment was running as high as 40% in the Gaza strip and at around 25% in the West Bank.

Nor can we even claim that we did not know that this would be the result of our policies. Indeed, the Israelis boasted that they intended to starve the Palestinians as long ago as last April.

The rationale to all this was explained by Dov Weisglass, an adviser to Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, earlier this year. 'The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger.'

Israel are now withholding $600 million of tax revenue that it owes to the Palestinian Authority. As the UN are requesting only $453 million in aid it becomes quite obvious that it is the Israelis refusing to hand the Palestinians what is rightfully theirs that has accounted for the bulk of this disaster.

Of course the Quartet also bear a large responsibility for agreeing to punish the Palestinians for putting Hamas in power.

The international community, under the Quartet of the US, the UN, the EU and Russia, has also halted direct funding to the Palestinian government, saying it must recognise Israel, halt violence and accept past peace agreements. The freeze means salaries for 160,000 government workers have largely gone unpaid.

If we are seriously concerned about extremists being elected to positions of power, why has there been no international outcry over Israel's decision to make Liebermann - a man that MK Ahmed Tibi called a "dangerous politician, clever, fascist and racist" - their Deputy Prime Minister? Why are extremists allowed to sit in the Israeli government but not in the Palestinian one? Why has no punishment been meted out to Israel?

Our stance on this is so one sided that it quite makes your head spin. Nor has there been any movement when it comes to getting the Israelis to give the Palestinians their money.

The Quartet has proposed that Israel begin passing on the tax revenues it owes via a system called the temporary international mechanism, which channels money to the office of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, a leader of the more moderate Fatah party, and not directly to the rival Hamas government. But so far Israel is withholding the revenues.

Nor have we had any success is getting Israel to lessen it's stranglehold of the Palestinian economy:

In the past year the UN said there had been a 40% increase in the number of barriers and checkpoints across the West Bank. In addition, there have been continued closures of the crossing points for people and goods out of Gaza. Under an agreement negotiated last November, Israel was to open up the main crossing points to relieve the economic crisis. But the crossings have in effect been closed, with Israel citing security concerns.

The Israelis have been quite open about what they intend to do to the Palestinians, they intend to starve them. And, based on the appeal being made by the UN, they are having some considerable success in doing so.

What I find truly startling is that the international community are aiding this process. Oh, we may pay lip service and occasionally demand that the Israelis open up the checkpoints, but as we offer Israel no punishment for failing to comply, we are - in effect - aiding in the active starvation of an entire people.

The fact that we are doing so at a time when we are supposedly seeking to lessen Arab hatred towards the west is mindbogglingly dumb. There is really no reason to wonder anymore why we are so hated. It is because so many of our actions are hateful.

As Chomsky says, "When the intellectual history of this period is someday written, it will scarcely be believable."

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tag: Israel, Palestine, European Union, Quartet, starvation, sanctions, boycott,