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The Israel donors conference
By Amira Hass
Tags: Gaza, Hillary Clinton 

Click here for more articles by Amira Hass

The extent of the funding pledged to the Palestinian Authority by donor countries reflects the extent of their support for Israel and its policies. The American taxpayers' contribution to the Ramallah government's bank account is dwarfed by the large sums the U.S. government donates to Israel every year. It's impossible to get excited over the American pledge of $900 million (two-thirds of it for strengthening Salam Fayyad's government and the rest for Gaza's recovery) and forget the $30 billion the United States has promised Israel in defense aid by the end of 2017, as last week's Amnesty International report noted.

The $900 million pledged to the Palestinians in Sharm el-Sheikh should be seen as part of the regular American aid to Israel. As an occupying power, Israel is obligated to assure the well-being of the population under its control. But Israel is harming it instead, after which the United States (like other countries) rushes to compensate for the damage.
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The Clinton and Bush administrations - and Barack Obama appears to be following in their footsteps - erased the phrase "Israeli occupation" from their dictionaries and collaborated with Israel in ignoring its commitments as enshrined in international law. The billions of dollars that Israel receives from the United States for weapons and defense development - which played a significant role in the destruction in the Gaza Strip - are part of Israel's successful propaganda, which presents the Rafah tunnels and Grad rockets as a strategic threat and part of the Islamic terror offensive against enlightened countries.

The West has blown the Hamas movement out of proportion, exaggerating its military might to the point of mendacity; this allowed for an extended siege and three weeks of Israeli military intractability. In the Palestinian and larger Arab world, this embellishment helps Hamas depict itself as the real patriotic force.

The hundreds of millions of euros that have been donated or pledged to help Gaza, as though it were beset by natural disasters, are overshadowing the trade ties between Europe and Israel. The Western countries concerned about humanitarian aid for the Palestinians also buy from Israel arms and defense knowledge developed under the laboratory conditions of the occupation, that serial creator of humanitarian crises.

And the 1 billion petrodollars? First of all, they were generated from a natural resource that logic dictates should benefit the Arab peoples. Second, they were pledged at a conference that boycotted Gaza (neither Hamas nor business people or social activists from the Strip participated in the donors conference). This is how Saudi Arabia lends its hand to the American and Israeli veto of inter-Palestinian reconciliation.

Every cent paid to the Palestinians - whether for the Ramallah government's budget or medical treatment of children wounded by Israeli pilots or soldiers - lets Israel know that it can continue its efforts to force a capitulation deal on the Palestinian elite. Only by recognizing that surrender is the goal can one understand that 16 years after Oslo, no Palestinian state was established. When did Shimon Peres, Ariel Sharon and Tzipi Livni begin talking about two states? Only after their bulldozers and military bureaucrats crushed the realistic physical basis of a Palestinian state. And this basis is: June 4, 1967 land (including East Jerusalem), Gaza - an inseparable part of the state - and zero settlements (and that applies to Gilo and Ma'aleh Adumim).

During the 1990s it was still possible to describe donations to the Palestinians as an expression of confidence and hope in Israel's readiness to free itself of the occupation regime it had created. But not in 2009. Support for Israeli policy - this is the only way to understand the fact that other countries keep pouring in hundreds of millions of dollars meant to put out the fires set by this policy, without extinguishing the source of the blaze.
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  1.   Where has your "pride" gone, Israel....???? 10:49  |  Swiss (Dino) 04/03/09
  2.   America plays Daffy Duck to Israels Bugs Bunny 11:08  |  Natallie Durson 04/03/09
  3.   a. hass 11:28  |  v 04/03/09
  4.   Has Hamas been protecting Israel all these years? 11:41  |  Bennie 04/03/09
  5.   Amira, where is Arab aid to Gaza? 11:50  |  Tzfonit 04/03/09
  6.   Good article. 12:10  |  cfs 04/03/09
  7.   Israel donors` conference 12:15  |  Harold 04/03/09
  8.   compared to gideon levy, amira hass... 12:39  |  shraga 04/03/09
  9.   AID to Israel is military to counter ALL the neighbours 12:49  |  PETER SM 04/03/09
  10.   bona fide appeal to amira/readers/haaretz/anyone 13:05  |  elmore jane`s 04/03/09
  11.   A load of twaddle 13:29  |  Joe W 04/03/09
  12.   AT LEAST THE MONEY 13:37  |  Robert 04/03/09
  13.   no comparison military aid & cash handouts are different things 13:37  |  zionist forever 04/03/09
  14.   Kudos to Amira Hass. 13:42  |  Johnboy 04/03/09
  15.   #10 The "policy goal", elmore? 13:48  |  Johnboy 04/03/09
  16.   US aid 13:48  |  m 04/03/09
  17.   Let`s see 14:09  |  felix 04/03/09
  18.   AT LEAST THE MONEY 14:31  |  Jake 1948 04/03/09
  19.   hmm, and the 1 bill Bush took from Israels budget ended up w/ the 14:32  |  petra 04/03/09
  20.   Israel takes care of the Gazans well-being, Johnboy 14:37  |  Sceptic 04/03/09
  21.   If US had any soul it should hold back aid to 15:22  |  Swedish citizen 04/03/09
  22.   More loony Amira Hass 15:29  |  Stella 04/03/09
  23.   The anti-Glick 15:54  |  Rowan Berkeley 04/03/09
  24.   Clinton is Rice in white face 16:11  |  Marilyn 04/03/09
  25.   Where has your "pride" gone Switzerland???? 16:42  |  Christopher 04/03/09
  26.   The US should cut off all aid to Israel; US taxpayer! 16:43  |  Tom Clark 04/03/09
  27.   Ms. Hass....personally I think 900 million 17:07  |  Lynn 04/03/09
  28.   acknowledge johnboy.yes if you say,but why? 18:23  |  elmore 04/03/09
  29.   Rebuild For Those Who Would Destroy Israel? NOT! 18:35  |  Shlomo 04/03/09
  30.   m re us aid 18:55  |  American in NY 04/03/09
  31.   felix # 17 lets see! 19:02  |  American in NY 04/03/09
  32.   Amira Hass 19:14  |  Steve 04/03/09
  33.   Amira Haas Donors confernce 19:26  |  Yumi Schleifer 04/03/09
  34.   Will these idiots ever learn????? 19:26  |  Bwana Veritas 04/03/09
  35.   Tom Clark #26 while your at it 20:24  |  Gee 04/03/09
  36.   Only one answer 20:32  |  Terry 04/03/09
  37.   Is someone going to kill you with a piece of macaroni? 20:49  |  Heinz 04/03/09
  38.   @27 Lynn---VERY WELL SAID 20:55  |  Ari ben Yisrael 04/03/09
  39.   No more aid to Israel ! 21:04  |  Rx 04/03/09
  40.   Ordinary Americans are onthe warpath overthis continued injustice 21:18  |  Dutch 04/03/09
  41.   T. CLARK So stand for office if you think you have a following 21:36  |  PETER SM 04/03/09
  42.   A frog dwarfs Amiras capacity for unbiased thinking 21:42  |  Jolly Roger 04/03/09
  43.   Israel is Modern, Democratic, Independent Ally of US 21:46  |  Baruch Gold 04/03/09
  44.   Amira Has an Identity Problem 21:48  |  Baruch Gold 04/03/09
  45.   To Rowan Berkeley #23 `The anti-Glick` 22:20  |  Colin Wright 04/03/09
  46.   Thank you Amira hass ! 22:27  |  Cath 04/03/09
  47.   Lieberman and Hass 22:33  |  Onimo 04/03/09
  48.   Who Turned Down Camp David? 23:02  |  Eli 04/03/09
  49.   A $ return on the investment 23:05  |  Arnold 04/03/09
  50.   Succinct and absolutely correct 23:25  |  Roo 04/03/09
  51.   Succinct and absolutely correct 23:57  |  Roo 04/03/09
  52.   # 25 Christopher, you forgot to mention Stalin and Pol Pot...:) 00:26  |  Swiss (Dino) 05/03/09
  53.   #15 johnboy 00:39  |  duncan 05/03/09
  54.   14 johnboy no kudos 00:44  |  duncan 05/03/09
  55.   ROO Succinct and absoutely total feigned ignorance 01:24  |  PETER SM 05/03/09
  56.   As the bible clearly states, the traitors among the Jews 01:44  |  amira love 05/03/09
  57.   Swiss (Dino)-You are right, I did forget 01:53  |  Christopher 05/03/09
  58.   They paid to destroy it, now they pay to rebuild 04:40  |  peacelover 05/03/09
  59.   PEACELOVER Hamas who kept firing despite repeated warning 07:07  |  PETER SM 05/03/09
  60.   People who hate their country show hate to their m 08:04  |  Dr. Giora Silverman 05/03/09
  61.   PETER SM are you allowed to say that? 12:51  |  Roo 05/03/09
  62.   Israel is Democracy, Gaza is Terrorist Entity 14:07  |  Rafi 09/03/09
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Responses: 3
Two Israeli policemen die in West Bank shooting
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