Ken Berwitz

This is another post that should enrage and educate.

If you care at all about Israel and/or democracy, freedom and the future of western civilization, you should be enraged.

If you are a supporter of Israel who voted for Barack Obama, you should be educated.  Why?  Because no supporter of Israel would want the US government to do this, so you must have thought that Barack Obama wouldn't have when you voted for him.

With this in mind, please read today's article from Sue Pleming of Reuters:

U.S. plans "substantial" pledge at Gaza meeting

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States plans to offer more than $900 million to help rebuild Gaza after Israel's invasion and to strengthen the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, U.S. officials said on Monday.

The money, which needs U.S. congressional approval, will be distributed through U.N. and other bodies and not via the militant group Hamas, which rules Gaza, said one official.

"This money is for Gaza and to help strengthen the Palestinian Authority. It is not going to go to Hamas," said the official, who asked not to be named as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton planned to announce the funding at a donors' conference in Egypt next week.

Neither the United States nor Israel have direct contact with the Islamist Hamas movement which runs Gaza and remains formally committed to the destruction of the Jewish state.

The official said the pledge was a mix of money already earmarked for the Palestinians and some new funding.

"The package is still shaping up," he said, when asked for specifics over how the money would be spent and a breakdown of old and new funding.

In December, the former Bush administration said it would give $85 million to the U.N. agency that provides aid to Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

The March 2 donors' conference in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh resort aims to raise humanitarian and rebuilding funds for Gaza after Israel's invasion last December to suppress rocket fire against its cities.

Preliminary estimates put damage from the offensive, in which 1,300 Palestinians died, at nearly $2 billion.

Clinton's bid to get "substantial" funds could face an uphill battle in Congress because Hamas continues to rule Gaza and the U.S. focus is on its own souring economy.

BOOST FOR ABBAS

Part of the goal of the new funding is to boost the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas, which controls the occupied West Bank.

The United States wants Abbas's PA to play a central role in the reconstruction effort in Gaza, hoping this will increase its influence in the Hamas stronghold. Washington is also putting pressure on other donors to bolster Abbas.

"We call on donor countries to focus their pledges to meet the Palestinian Authority's priorities, including budget support, and on projects that can be funded through the Palestinian Authority and other existing, trusted mechanisms," said a State Department official.

The quartet of Middle East mediators -- the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations -- are expected to meet on the sidelines of the Egyptian conference where they will work on strategy on Gaza, U.S. officials said.

After attending the conference in Egypt, Clinton is expected to go to Israel and the West Bank -- a public demonstration of Obama's promise to make Arab-Israeli peacemaking a foreign policy priority.

Clinton's special envoy to the region, George Mitchell, will be there this week trying to revive stalled Palestinian statehood talks complicated both by Hamas and political uncertainty in Israel after last week's election.

Let's get a few things straight:

-Both hamas AND abou abbas' fatah party are committed to the destruction of Israel and the death of its Jews.  hamas is more extreme in its efforts - as of now, anyway.  But we are not talking about a difference in objective, we are talking about a difference in degree.

-The $85 million that was committed by the Bush Administration and was to have been spent through the UN, was offered when the UN, at least apparently, still had some control over supplies in Gaza.  But during Israel's action in December/January, the UN had to stop sending supply trucks into Gaza because hamas was hijacking them and stealing the supplies.  Thus the general Gazan population was not benefitting from the UN supply trucks;  only hamas. 

So now we're going to commit over ten times as much and funnel it through the UN, when we know that hamas is likely to take it anyway?  Does that make sense to you?

-Then we have the incredible fantasy that recontructing Gaza somehow supports fatah.  The last time Gaza voted, hamas won a majority over fatah.  Then hamas violently removed the rest of fatah and now is in 100% control.  The idea that reconstructing Gaza boosts fatah instead of hamas is idiotic bordering on insane.

-Finally, there is the use of this money.  Someone has to reconstruct Gaza.  Without massive US aid, hamas is to a great extent stuck with the expense.  So every dollar that the US and/or the UN spends to do it is a dollar freed up for hamas to buy weaponry that will be used to kill Israelis.  Is that what we want to do?  Bail out hamas so it can use the freed-up resources to kill Israelis?

In the last election, exit polls indicated that 78% of all Jews voted for Barack Obama.  Presumably most of them support Israel. 

I hope they're happy with what they got.  As one of the other 22%, I can assure you I am not.