Israel punishes Palestinians for exercising their democratic vote
Since Palestinians exercised their democratic right and elected Hamas to represent them an awful situation has become a whole lot worse. Effectively Palestians are being punished for voting the wrong way - even though Bush, Blair et al have long been espousing the need for democracy. The latest edition of Middle East Window has a range of articles which talk of the breath taking assertions by Israel about their humanitarian efforts while continuing to kill Palestinians and generally making their existence impossible.
"Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert traveled to Washington in late May to tell President Bush about his plans for Israel's future. There is no indication that those plans offer a viable solution to the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories caused by the cutoff of funds to the Hamas government. Olmert blames Hamas for the crisis. Former president Jimmy Carter disagrees. In a column in the International Herald Tribune (May 7), Carter wrote:
'Innocent Palestinian people are being treated like animals, with the presumption that they are guilty of some crime. Because they voted for candidates who are members of Hamas, the United States government has become the driving force behind an apparently effective scheme of depriving the general [Palestinian] public of income, access to the outside world and the necessities of life.' "
Residents of Jerusalem are being treated as foreigners and must apply for visas every three months.
The US continues to work with Israel to decide on the future of Palestinians. They are agreeing with Isreal not to pay the wages of government workers for example.
Posted by John Tyrrell at June 7, 2006 8:51 PM
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