U.S., EU disagree over Palestinian aid plan

The Bush administration is pressing the European Union to scrap a plan to pay Palestinian health workers and possibly others to avert the collapse of essential services, Western diplomats said yesterday.

An alternative put forward by Washington to the Quartet of Middle East mediators would instead provide welfare payments to poor Palestinians, who could then use the money to cover doctors' bills and buy food, the diplomats said.

Critics of the U.S. approach said it would undercut EU efforts to maintain key Palestinian institutions like its health and education ministries.

The transatlantic dispute could further delay the launch of an aid mechanism proposed a month ago by the Quartet, which is composed of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.


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AIPAC has lobbied extensively to punish palestinians for their vote, and to destroy Palestinian institutions. Bushie has responded with great fervor.
Critics of the U.S. approach said it would undercut EU efforts to maintain key Palestinian institutions like its health and education ministries.

Not only do they want to put Palestinians "on a diet" (that's the current joke among the Olmert gang) but destroy health and education institutions as well.

This is not good.

...running the country. :eyes:

US relations with Israel. They lobby for specific acts. Are you saying they are ineffective? Are they scamming people?

...they are not as powerful as they want to believe, or as you, and others seem to think they are.

They hate Palestinians too.

But there is no doubt that AIPAC is pushing for tough sanctions against the Palestinian people.

Gee, the idea that BushCo could be behind this...well, that's just novel. Since they are the ones running the country, shouldn't they be the ones that bare the brunt of the decisions, or that must always fall on the ever powerful Jewish lobby?

On edit: Since you imply that AIPAC hates Palestinians, does this mean because they are pro-Israel they hate Palestinians? Conversely, does that mean groups like the ISM and ANSWER hate Israelis and Israel?

They would like to think they represent Jewish people, that is certainly not the case. But i do think that Bush, like any president, responds to heavy lobbying, by any group. They respond to the Oil lobby, the pharma lobby, and to lobby's like AIPAC.

Often to the detriment of common folks interests.

My bad...I was typing so fast, I forgot to put quotes around "Jewish Lobby." I won't edit that post because that would be dishonest, so I am officially saying here, that was typo on my part.

Glad you realize that there are other lobbies out there, some even more powerful than AIPAC, and some have just as much interest in the ME.

interest in keeping Palestinians hungry or without health institutions. If you can point out why that would be of particular interest for them, or specific actions by the oil lobby behind this policy, i am certainly open.

The fact remains that AIPAC has been lobbying vigorously for policies for punitive sanctions against Palestinians. This policy adopted by the anti-human Bush administration is certainly in line with that.

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http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=9785

by Gideon Levy

The Hamas team had not laughed so much in a long time. The team, headed by the prime minister's advisor Dov Weissglas and including the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff, the director of the Shin Bet and senior generals and officials, convened for a discussion with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on ways to respond to the Hamas election victory. Everyone agreed on the need to impose an economic siege on the Palestinian Authority, and Weissglas, as usual, provided the punch line: "It's like an appointment with a dietician. The Palestinians will get a lot thinner, but won't die," the advisor joked, and the participants reportedly rolled with laughter. And, indeed, why not break into laughter and relax when hearing such a successful joke? If Weissglas tells the joke to his friend Condoleezza Rice, she would surely laugh too.

But Weissglas' wisecrack was in particularly poor taste. Like the thunder of laughter it elicited, it again revealed the extent to which Israel's intoxication with power drives it crazy and completely distorts its morality. With a single joke, the successful attorney and hedonist from Lilenblum Street, Tel Aviv demonstrated the chilling heartlessness that has spread throughout the top echelon of Israel's society and politics. While masses of Palestinians are living in inhumane conditions, with horrifying levels of unemployment and poverty that are unknown in Israel, humiliated and incarcerated under our responsibility and culpability, the top military and political brass share a hearty laugh a moment before deciding to impose an economic siege that will be even more brutal than the one until now.

The proposal to put hungry people on a diet is accepted here without shock, without public criticism; even if only said in jest, it is incomparably worse than the Danish caricature. It reflects a widespread mood that will usher in cruel, practical measures. If until now one could argue that Israel primarily demonstrated insensitivity to the suffering of the other and closed its eyes (especially the stronger classes, busy with their lives of plenty) while a complete nation was groaning only a few kilometers away, now Israel is also making jokes at the expense of the other's suffering.

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http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=9785