Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Divorced From Reality

The wishful thinking that grips many Western politicians when they hear the word "Palestinian" continues unabated.

International donors committed 242 million dollars Tuesday to bolster the Palestinian police and justice system to help pave the way to a viable state, Germany's foreign minister said.

Because all those other millions of dollars given to them has been so successful!

The money will be passed to the Palestinian Authority (PA) over the next three years for measures such as putting more police on the beat, rebuilding destroyed courthouses and training judges, Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.

He said the funds would also go towards an expansion of the European Union Police Mission in the Palestinian Territories (EUPOL COPPS), set up in 2005 to train the Palestinian police force.

It is hoped that through such measures Palestinians will turn their backs on violence and put more trust in the rule of law so that an eventual Palestinian state will be able to stand on its own two feet.

Marvellous! What a noble effort. And even though the past millions of dollars haven't worked this next batch will certainly change the way things work. Soon, we shall no longer have things like this happen-

The Palestinian Authority has in recent days released at least three Hamas prisoners, as part of an agreement between Fatah and its rival faction to reconcile after a year of fighting.

The decision was made despite the Palestinian Authority's promise to Israel.

Isn't it great the way that free money sent with no strings modifies behaviour?

The cash comes out of 7.4 billion dollars already pledged by donors in Paris in December, a month after peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians were relaunched in Annapolis in the United States.

Billions of dollars. At this rate the Palestinian Authority will soon be a peacenik paradise of love and goodwill to all men. Right? It must be so, because even Condi Rice says so.

"Every link in what we call the chain of security must be intact and unbreakable. To ... feel invested in a future state the Palestinians must have confidence that their police, courts, penal system are dedicated to upholding the rule of law and respecting human rights," Rice said.

We've already seen how much respect Palestinians have for the human rights of Israeli men, women and children, haven't we? And it's funny that at the same time as Rice is calling on the Palestinians to have better security, she is in favour of Israel reducing its own.

"We have not made the progress that we would like to in terms of movement and access, removal of barriers," Rice said on Sunday at a press conference with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Funny how the state that needs to protect its own innocent civilians from psychopaths intent on indiscriminate mass murder is the one that's supposed to reduce its security efforts- and the one providing the terrorist murderers is being given massive influxes of foreign aid to improve theirs.

The wonderful world of modern politics.

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