Thursday, May 11, 2006

Online overview as regards current policy vis-a-vis Hamas

An informative overview entitled: 'starving Hamas', from a Washington Post blog:

The growing humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories around Israel has two faces in the global online media.

In the U.S. press, the story focuses on the struggle of Washington policy makers to come to terms with the radical ruling party Hamas and the collapsing Palestinian economy. Among Israeli, Arab and British news sites, the commentary digs past the policy debate to underscore the negative impact on ordinary people caught up in the conflict.

The Bush administration has sought, mostly successfully, to cut off international financial support for the Palestinian government as long as Hamas is the ruling party. Hamas's charter calls for the establishment of an Islamic state in the areas now encompassed by Israel. The United States says Hamas must recognize Israel and renounce terrorism before the Palestinian people will get any support.

The confrontation between Hamas and the West is creating a harsh reality for ordinary Palestinians, bluntly conveyed in overseas commentary in ways only occasionally heard in the U.S. mainstream media or on Capitol Hill.

"Innocent Palestinian people are being treated like animals," says former President Jimmy Carter in a piece for the International Herald Tribune.

James Wolfensohn, the former Middle East envoy, World Bank president and wealthy Jewish businessman, is now a hero to the Jerusalem daily, Al Quds. The editors said last week that Palestinians "will never forget" Wolfensohn for publicly opposing the Bush administration's efforts to cut off all assistance to the Palestinian Authority.

Read the rest of this piece and all comments on the original blog by clicking here