Give Hamas a Chance
I say we give Hamas some time to work with Fatah and come up with some kind of government that works for them. The Palestinians do not have the power to inflict great harm on Israel (unless Iran or some other peace-hating entity steps in) so at the moment, I'm not inclined to see them as "terrorist-affiliated."
Depriving the Palestinians of badly-needed funds will only make them more resentful. We cannot continue to treat the Palestinians the way we have been and expect them to come to the negotiating table. I think we're depriving them of dignity and simultaneously contributing to the virulent hatred of us among much of the Arab/Muslim world that we must address. There is no sense "fighting the war on terror" without taking steps to make it clear that we care about Palestinian well-being.
They need a sense of self-sufficiency to take pride in themselves, I think, and we need to help them get on their feet economically, not contribute to their demise.
I'm not taking sides on this issue; I just want to see all the different perspectives. At this point, I don't think it's as important who "deserves" the land, because there's no way to determine that objectively; I think we need to focus on pragmatic solutions. Both sides are not going to get 100% of what they want, and the sooner they realize this the better for all of us.
I didn't like Arafat; the Palestinians need a trustworthy leader who has their best interests at heart.
Depriving the Palestinians of badly-needed funds will only make them more resentful. We cannot continue to treat the Palestinians the way we have been and expect them to come to the negotiating table. I think we're depriving them of dignity and simultaneously contributing to the virulent hatred of us among much of the Arab/Muslim world that we must address. There is no sense "fighting the war on terror" without taking steps to make it clear that we care about Palestinian well-being.
They need a sense of self-sufficiency to take pride in themselves, I think, and we need to help them get on their feet economically, not contribute to their demise.
I'm not taking sides on this issue; I just want to see all the different perspectives. At this point, I don't think it's as important who "deserves" the land, because there's no way to determine that objectively; I think we need to focus on pragmatic solutions. Both sides are not going to get 100% of what they want, and the sooner they realize this the better for all of us.
I didn't like Arafat; the Palestinians need a trustworthy leader who has their best interests at heart.
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