by Khaled Abu Toameh • July 29, 2020 at 5:00 am
The Palestinians were extremely happy to accept the billions of dollars from Western donors. Yet when the Palestinians headed to the ballot boxes to cast their votes in the 2006 election, they did not choose Palestinian candidates who talked about peace with Israel. Instead, the majority of the Palestinians knowingly and proudly voted for the Hamas candidates who promised them that they would never recognize Israel's right to exist and would continue to engage in Jihad (holy war) until the "liberation of all Palestine, from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river."
The donors should have understood in 2006 that their dollars and euros do nothing to shape hearts and minds, and that the only way to create a change is through education -- education for peace and tolerance and not education for Jihad, terrorism and anti-Israel brainwashing.
It is important to note that Hamas and many Palestinians are nothing but honest about their deadly intentions. They are straightforwardly saying: "We refuse, utterly and unequivocally, to change our policies or abandon our weapons for the sake of your money. If you think you can bribe us into changing our behavior because that is what you in the West so often do, sorry, it will not work."
Meanwhile, Palestinians will continue to take money from the West, if the West is foolish enough to keep giving it -- perhaps the Europeans want the Arabs to finish the job that Hitler started? -- but the next time Palestinians head to the ballot box, Western donors can expect them once again to vote for jihad.
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are angry again -- this time, they claim, because they have been offered billions of dollars to improve their living conditions and build a new and strong economy. Pictured: Trucks carrying aid from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency arrive in the Gaza Strip from Israel through the Kerem Shalom crossing, May 12, 2019. (Photo by Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images)
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are angry again -- this time, they claim, because they have been offered billions of dollars to improve their living conditions and build a new and strong economy.
Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Palestinian Hamas terror group ruling the Gaza Strip, hinted that the offer was made by the United States. He did not, however, provide further details about the rumored offer and said that Hamas turned it down because it was conditioned on disarming terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip and recognizing Israel's right to exist.
By refusing the ostensible offer, Hamas and its Palestinian allies are announcing -- not for the first time -- that thinking a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be achieved through huge investments in economic projects in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is misleading and false.
That wish is indeed baseless, as proven by historical fact.
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