Palestinians may not like U.S., but taxpayers have sent billions in aid

French president Nicolas Sarkozy made more sense than U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the Gaza Reconstruction Conference. [Photo French Government]The Associated Press reported the U.S. plans to send $900 million in aid for the “reconstruction of Gaza.” Many American taxpayers may not realize the U.S. has provided $2.2 billion in aid to Gaza since 1993. What’s intriguing about the AP story is the presentation. Apparently—and I’m theorizing because the sentence structure in the story is unwieldy—a U.S. official told the wire service we’re helping with humanitarian and rebuilding projects to “help Gaza recover from Israel’s offensive against Hamas last month.” Whether the use of the term “offensive” came from the U.S. official or from the reporter writing the tale is debatable. So how will the latest American dollars be broken down?

The Jerusalem Post said, “Clinton gave no breakdown of the pledged funds, but her spokesman said on Sunday they included $300 million in humanitarian aid for Gaza and about $600 million in budget and development aid to the West bank based Palestinian Authority.” At least it isn’t going to Hamas, some might say.

Of all the foreign leaders attending a Gaza Reconstruction Conference in Sharm e-Sheikh, the leader of France actually demonstrated common sense, a quality lacking in most world leaders including current leaders from the U.S.

Taking the stand, French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged "responsible Palestinians" to seek peace with Israel - and said the release of the captured "Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit in exchange for Palestinian prisoners is a priority."

This American taxpayer would urge the Palestinians to come together from within. If Hamas continues to fire rockets at Isreal, it doesn’t take a complicated reasoning process to figure out Israel will retaliate. The AP story might have noted many of us who deal in reality rather than dogma view Israel’s “offensive” as a primal defense. It stands to reason that if someone is trying to exterminate you, you’d have a vested interest in defending yourself.

Americans may recall images of Palestinians celebrating the 9/11 attacks on America. It says a lot about us as a country that we are willing to send aid to people who defy attempts at peace and who celebrate the loss of U.S. lives and property.

US Aid disclosed, "[P]alestinians have received more than $2.2 billion in U.S. economic assistance via USAID projects - more than from any other donor country." That's before we send them nearly $1 billion more.

Update on Monday, March 2, 2009 at 3:10PM by Kay B. Day, Editor

As usual, the U.S. taxpayer has delivered the bulk of "rebuilding" Gaza. As usual, the liberals are handing out tax dollars with no transparency, no accountability and no idea how much this money will accomplish.

Here's an excerpt from an update from Fox News:

"Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit announced at an international donors conference on Monday that $4.48 billion in new funds has been pledged for rebuilding the Gaza Strip, which was devastated in Israel's recent offensive against its Hamas rulers. He said other nations recommitted themselves to funds they promised in the past but never delivered, bringing the total to $5.2 billion. That includes $900 million from the United States, two-thirds of which would be directed to the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority."

Of course, no one's counting weapons. This taxpayer figures Hamas at least has received plenty of support on weaponry.

____________________________________

Update on Tuesday, March 3, 2009 at 2:20PM by Kay B. Day, Editor

Ah, the irony. Al Jazeera, never known for lack of bias, reports pledges to Gaza, failing to point out the burden the U.S. has borne and emphasizing the Arab states, most of whom have never met their pledges:

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/03/200932162636160549.html