[Jerusalem Post] Herb Keinon - The newest buzzword in Middle East diplomacy is "strengthening the moderates." How do you prop up the moderates? By providing the moderates with money to help combat Islamic extremists. British Prime Minister Tony Blair last week said the West had the right to support financially those who shared its principles. This argument takes on added weight in light of the fact that Iran is successfully smuggling hundreds of millions of dollars to Hamas. The money Israel freed up is intended to prop up Abbas and buy him support on the Palestinian street. The problem with this approach is that it underestimates the strength of religion and ideology in the society, and reduces everything to money, a throwback to the thinking of the early 1990s that if you just improved the Palestinian economic situation, peace would spring up. In this part of the world - where religion and ideology have such a powerful pull - throwing money at the problem won't necessarily solve it.
2006-12-25 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive