You Know Things Are Tough When The Arabs Boycott The Palestinians

And it's even worse when Arabs threaten to boycott the Arabs who are boycotting Palestinian Arabs.

Haaretz was reporting on May 15 that:

The prominent and popular Islamic scholar Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi threatened on Thursday to issue a religious edict mandating a boycott of Arab and Islamic banks that refuse to transfer monetary aid to the Palestinians. This was the desperate cry of a cleric watching a nearly complete Arab boycott in operation, this time not against Israel, but against Palestine.

Even granting that it was reported even earlier that the US was giving in to pressure to provide humanitarian aid to Palestinian Arabas, the Haaretz article claims that what makes the boycott against Hamas work is not the US threat--which was ineffective in the past in preventing European and Arab countries from aiding Saddam Hussein or Muammar Gadhafi--rather it is the Arab attitude towards Hamas itself:

The difference is that Hamas is now perceived as unwilling to cooperate with the official Arab position adopted at the Beirut summit - the Arab League resolution adopting the two-state principle and the 1967 borders. Arab states, particularly Egypt and Saudi Arabia, are demanding a greater effort from Hamas. They are not prepared to accept the possibility that the movement now leading the country that represents Arab unity might rebel against an Arab decision. The "loss" of Palestine into radical religious hands, especially with Iraq inching out of the Arab framework, therefore necessitates restraining action that will bind Hamas's Palestine to the Arab ranks.

Meanwhile, though the US has expressed a willingness to go along with the idea of sending aid--bypassing Hamas--to the PA for humanitarian needs, this also may not be such a clear-cut decision. Fatah and Hamas attacking each other and Al Qaeda on the scene cannot be making the US eager to invest more money into the bottomless pit known as the PA. One US official is quoted as saying:

"If Hamas has money to finance its people, who are riding about in cars and brandishing rifles, it should use it to pay teachers and doctors," he said. "Who's paying for their gas?"

"The Hamas government is the one that ought to take care of its workers," he continued. "We have never paid the salaries of Palestinian Authority employees, and there is no reason for us to do so now."

Meanwhile, the boycott of Hamas is taking a toll. Some Palestinian Arabs are losing faith in Hamas. In The Other Side of the Green Line, Michael Totten interviews some Palestinian Arabs:

“The economy here looks a lot better than I expected,” I said to Sufian.

“It was pretty good until Hamas was elected,” he said. “But look in the stores. Notice there are no people in them. The only things people are buying are food and cigarettes. Only the basics. They are afraid to spend money if they have it.”

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“Who did you vote for?” I said.

“I voted for Fatah,” he said. “I’m not affiliated with them. They are just a good party to run things. I don’t think Hamas is ready for power. In some things I agree with Fatah, in some things I don’t. Even though they are corrupt, at least we had money. People are boycotting Hamas so now we are poor. We anticipate things will eventually get better, but we don’t have time.”

-----

“What has changed since Hamas came to power?” I said.

“Business,” he said. “The economy dropped down dramatically. Without industry they cannot boost the economy. We import everything from China. We support Chinese workers. We need our own industry.”

If the US has what it takes to at least not free up all funds to Hamas, combined with the fear in the Arab world of what Hamas might do by instituting Sharia--maybe something can be accomplished.

But don't hold your breath. Apparently besides the White House being skittish on Olmert's 'Convergence Plan,' they are planning on giving Olmert some homework to do:

The administration is also very concerned by the deteriorating situation in the territories and fear that it could eventually cause the PA to collapse, which Washington views as highly undesirable. Administration officials therefore plan to insist that Olmert present ideas on how to prevent the PA from degenerating into total chaos.

After the US took a hands-off attitude toward bringing the Palestinian Arabs to Democracy, it is left to Israel to deal with the mess.

Israel never gets a breather.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Hamas and Olmert and Totten.