Wednesday, March 21, 2007

This Isn't the Unity Government You're Looking For

I may be late to the party, but find it quite interesting that the world thinks that the Palestinians forming a unity government is going to bring about a creation or resumption of the peace process.

What has actually changed in the interim? Hamas refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist. Fatah doesn't believe that there should be an Israel. Both have apparently fudged over enough of the differences on the time frame for Israel's destruction and decided that so-called third parties will be involved in the Palestinian government in key ministry positions so as to give the imprimatur of a unity government.

To me, this simply staves off the civil war that has been brewing among Fatah and Hamas for months. It means that the ministry officials acceptable to both Fatah and Hamas will split the difference between the extreme position of Hamas and the slightly less extreme position of Fatah.

It also means that the Palestinians will be able to spend more time preparing for the inevitable conflict with Israel.

Meanwhile, how is it that the Palestinians are getting more economic aid from the EU and US when comparing 2006 to 2005 levels - this despite the claims that such aid has been curbed because of Hamas' involvement in the Palestinian government? Why was aid increased when the Palestinians showed themselves to be utterly incapable of managing the money given and that they refused to stop the violence and incitement to violence against Israel? Hamas has still refused to recognize Israel's right to exist, and yet the media and the diplomats think that the unity government is a step forward? A step forward to what?

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