Saudis, Qatar Pledge $33M to Palestinian Authority

[Jeanette in FL]

AP JERUSALEM Feb 1, 2006 — Israel has frozen this month's transfer of $45 million in tax rebates and customs payments to the Palestinian Authority, and a senior Palestinian official said Saudi Arabia and Qatar pledged Wednesday to transfer millions to ease the crisis.

Saudi Arabia promised $20 million and Qatar pledged $13 million in quick aid to help the Palestinian Authority pay January salaries to 137,000 employees, a senior Palestinian official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been finalized.

Earlier, Israeli officials said they were suspending the monthly transfer of millions of dollars in tax and customs revenues while Israel reviewed the issue in light of last week's victory of the Islamic militant Hamas in parliament elections.


"There is a concern on our side that the moneys transferred will come back to haunt us in the form of suicide bombings," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1565285

How is this going to square with the Bush administration, allies giving monies to Palestine, when Rice just urged the International Communities to withhold money until they reform their ways. Interesting.

[Spazito]

1. Oh Geez, Condi is going to have an even uglier pout on her face

than usual at this news, I sure hope they don't take any pics when she is told, it could be very, very bad, lol.

[htuttle]

5. Condi asked them to support the Palestinians

Just a day or two ago, I read in one article that we were cutting off aid to the Palestinians, and then in the next article that we had approached 'other Arab leaders' to take up the slack in aid funding.

Make sense to you now? Nope, me neither...

[Spazito]

6. LOL, found this in an earlier LBN thread

Rice to Press for Isolation of Hamas-led Government

Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will press U.S. allies today in London to deprive the incoming Hamas-led Palestinian government of financial support unless it abandons terrorism and accepts the existence of Israel.

The U.S., reacting to the setback to its Middle East policy posed by the surprise victory of Hamas in parliamentary elections Jan. 25, is seeking to build a consensus on withholding aid. European Union foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels today, said Hamas deserves time to embrace peace before a decision is made to cut off aid.

``The United States is not prepared to fund an organization that advocates the destruction of Israel, that advocates violence,'' Rice said while traveling to London.

Rice, who arrived late yesterday in the U.K., today plans to review the Palestinian elections with representatives of the United Nations, European Union and Russia. That group, known as the Quartet, has been working on negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis intended to lead to a peace agreement.


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=anu...

Interestingly, the article is no longer on Bloomberg, at least I couldn't get it to come up, only a blank page. I guess they saw the bush cabal saw they had two (flip-flopping) versions and asked Bloomberg to remove theirs?

[htuttle]

7. And here's the other side of their face

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=262772&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/

US urges Arab states to fund Palestinians

January 31,2006

The United States is urging Arab states to continue funding a Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, even though Washington is threatening to cut its own aid. Western diplomats said on Monday that President George Bush's administration has already contacted Arab governments that give the Palestinian Authority support and requested them to continue their funding.

The US position behind the scenes contrasts with its public stance, in which Bush has said he will cut aid to the Palestinian Authority unless Hamas renounces violence and stops demanding the destruction of Israel.

The US plea to the Arab world is because it does not want the West Bank and Gaza to descend into chaos as a result of choking off aid. It also fears that if it stops funding the Palestinians, countries such as Iran or Syria could step into the breach, enhancing their image in the Islamic world just as Washington seeks to isolate them.

Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, speaking to reporters on her flight to London for a series of diplomatic meetings, said: "We would sincerely hope that people would take the implications of a Palestinian government that would be cut off from assistance and not try to fill that gap."

(more at link)

:shrug:

[Spazito]

8. Ummmmm......dare I say....flip-flop, flip-flop, flip-flop

:rofl: plus :shrug:

[Jeanette in FL]

12. Thanks for posting this article

It is amazing what most of us American don't know what is going on behind the scenes or what is being done in our name with our money.

[oblivious]

10. Well I, for one, am relieved to hear that the US is against violence.

"The United States is not prepared to fund an organization...that advocates violence," Rice said while traveling to London.

[Behind the Aegis]

2. Not surprised.

SA has no problem funding terrorists. I don't know if Qatar is the same. However, it is good to see they are finally wanting to help the Palestinians, rather than use them as a 'talking point.'

[Tempest]

3. This is where your money is going every time you gas up

I bet Bush is regretting withholding those 28 pages of the commission report which detailed Saudi Arabia's role in 9/11.

[endarkenment]

4. But but but....

didn't we invade Iraq (reason 37 part B) because the Evil Saddam was funding palestinian terrorist organizations? Like Hamas?

Confused. Please explain.

[wordpix2]

9. another * "policy" that makes no sense except U.S. is broke so

even if we wanted to help out the world's newest democracy under Hamas, we can't

[Deja Q]

11. THIS MAKES SAUDI ARABIA AN ENEMY - BY BUSH'S OWN WORDS!!!!!!!!!!!

After 9/11, Bush said it all about what would happen to countries that would help terrorists.

Well, Saudia Arabia has done JUST THAT.

Well, Mr. Bush? Will you back up your word? I'll side with you here. Terrorists are vile animals, no argument from me!