Washington Post: Israelis voice warnings, Palestinians talk of ‘blackmail’ in wake of tweets by Trump
JERUSALEM — President Trump’s threat to cut aid to the Palestinians has the potential to backfire, Israeli security officials and analysts warned Wednesday, saying it could weaken a Palestinian leadership that cooperates with Israel on security matters and fuel extremism by worsening already dire humanitarian conditions.
Palestinian officials accused the United States of using bullying tactics after both Trump and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley indicated that the administration may cut funding to the Palestinians if they do not enter into peace talks with Israel. Palestinians “will not be blackmailed,” said Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee.
But concerns over a funding cut straddle both sides of the conflict. The United States contributes roughly $700 million annually to the Palestinians, about half of it through the United Nations agency charged with humanitarian relief for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: There is definitely a lot of truth to this analysis .... Mahmoud Abbas Doesn't Have a Trump Strategy (Foreign Policy)
More News On Palestinians And Israelis Reacting To President Trump's Tweet On Cutting Aid To The Palestinian Authority
Palestinian officials slam Trump's threat to cut US aid -- CNN
‘US financial threats are political blackmail,’ says Hamas -- Middle East Monitor
Angry reaction on Trump threat to withdraw Palestinian aid -- Irish Times
Hamas Calls Trump’s Threats to Stop Funding UNRWA ‘Political Extortion’ -- Sputnik
Trump Withdrawing American Aid to Palestinians Will Fuel More Violence Against Israelis -- Haaretz
What would Donald Trump ending US aid mean for Palestinians? -- Kersten Knipp, DW
4 comments:
Blackmail doesn't means what Hanan Ashrawi thinks it means.
"Mahmoud Abbas does not have a Trump strategy." While the Trump strategy so to speak is far from perfect and may even be more flawed than not, it does have a modicum of sense to it that actually might have a chance of representing American interests. The "Palestinians" aren't used to American leaders especially presidents who actually advocate policies that might actually make sense from the perspective of American national interests. They are essentially used to Americans and leaders kowtowing to them and giving them everything and anything they ask for. when they ask for more, give it to them and give them more than they asked for!!
If this has been the nature of a relationship, when one party insists on changing the nature of that relationship naturally the party who has been abusing the other for decades will find it disorienting when the aggrieved party insists on being treated as an equal and insists upon being respected.
As I have stated many times here and elsewhere, either cut off all aid to the "Palestinians" or make it highly conditional like the kind Israel receives. This will place parties on a more equal footing than they currently are. Once the Palestinians are knocked down a peg or the Israelis brought up a peg, the Palestinians may be much more willing to negotiate in good faith.
From an American perspective, the Palestinians danced and celebrated on 911. While the media did try to cover for them, this is well known among many Americans. The Israelis mourned with us. There's no good reason we should squander our hard earned treasure and go further in debt supporting an entity and a people who wish us harm.
As for the Israelis, America is NOT Israel. There likely will be cases where our interests and theirs simply don't align. If they think they are somehow getting something useful from an entity that treats terrorists as heroes and appears to offer only token assistance that means very little and they think this somehow serves there interests, they can supply aid to them and leave us out of it.
We have enormous problems ourselves that need tackling. Bankrolling an implacable enemy just does not fit in well.
If aid to Israel were cut, this would likely be beneficial. As it is, Israeli officials may be getting rich off of it and policies are being pursued that run contrary to the interests of both nations. Israel is a valuable buffer between us and Islamic terrorists who wish us harm. The extreme conditions placed on the "aid" undermine Israel both economically and militarily and mean they are less effective in this valuable benefit to us as a buffer. Also, cutting the aid would finally once and for all put the myth that Israel has influence over US policy to bed forever. Cutting aid to Israel should be easy in comparison to cutting aid to the Palestinians. Perhaps this should be DJT's next goal.
Maven Hanan Ashrawi predicted 100,000 dead American soldiers during the Gulf War in 1991.
She screeched and the usual MSM suspects were more than happy to put her on the air.
She is still in business.
HANAN ASHRAWI’S WAR ON HISTORY
www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Hanan-Ashrawis-war-on-history
Yup, Ashwari is a real gem.
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