[National Post-Canada] David Frum - International aid to the Palestinian territories has actually risen since Palestinians elected a Hamas government in January 2006. The Palestinian areas received $1.2 billion in official aid in 2006, up from $1 billion in 2005. America's contribution rose from $400 million in 2005 to $468 million in 2006. Aid from the EU and other international organizations also increased handsomely, and the UN has called for still greater increases in aid in 2007. The Palestinian areas now receive more than $300 per person, per year, making them the most aid-dependent population on Earth. (The people of sub-Saharan Africa receive only $44 per person per year.) What if the incentives changed? Suppose that each Hamas rocket cost the PA $1 million in reduced U.S. and EU aid? The 80 rockets fired over recent days would mean $80 million less in salaries, food, aid, subsidies of all kinds. The next 80 rockets - another $80 million gone. For the first time, Hamas' adventurism would exact a serious and predictable cost. Such a cost would do more than any number of U.S.-trained Fatah gunmen to restrain Hamas. But if the aid continues - if the world continues a policy of sending money to the Palestinian territories, no matter what the Palestinian government does - Israel, Gaza and the world stand just one well-aimed rocket away from war.
2007-05-21 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive