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Oh yea, forgot to mention...not only did America aid the Palestinians, so did Israel...
Not just a bit, but hundreds of millions...
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Israel agrees to release funds to Abbas
By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press WriterSun Jun 24, 12:09 PM ET
Israel agreed Sunday to begin releasing hundreds of millions of dollars in frozen tax funds to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a gesture to bolster the moderate Palestinian leader in his standoff against the Islamic militant group Hamas.
The decision came a day before Prime Minister Ehud Olmert heads to Egypt for a high-profile summit with Abbas, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Jordanian King Abdullah II.
The gathering is meant to give Abbas a high-profile display of support against Hamas, which violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in a bloody rout of Abbas' Fatah movement earlier this month.
But Olmert cautioned against high expectations for the summit.
"We have an interest in having this meeting, but I don't want anyone to think we're on the brink of a dramatic breakthrough," Olmert told his Cabinet, according to a meeting participant.
Abbas, however, said he received U.S. and Israeli assurances that Israel was ready to make progress at the summit. The Palestinian president, who met with King Abdullah II in Jordan, said he would ask Israel to free Palestinian prisoners, in addition to easing restrictions at crossing points and releasing the tax money, the official Jordanian news agency Petra reported.
Ismail Haniyeh, the deposed Palestinian prime minister, dismissed the summit as a "mirage," saying resistance was the only hope for Palestinians.
"The Americans won't give anything. Israel won't give us anything. Our land, our nation will not come back to us except with steadfastness and resistance," a code word for attacks against Israel, he said in Gaza.
The Palestinian infighting has left the Palestinians with two governments — Abbas' new Cabinet in the West Bank, and the Hamas rulers in Gaza. Israel and moderate Arab leaders have joined to support Abbas and isolate Hamas, a radical group pledged to Israel's destruction.
Olmert aide David Baker said it was premature to begin talks on a final peace deal, despite calls from the Palestinians and other Arab countries to do so.
Israel is prepared to discuss "a political horizon," he said. "These talks do not include final status issues, but rather how the prime minister and the president of the Palestinian Authority would envision a future Palestinian state."
Israel has withheld some $550 million of Palestinian tax money since Hamas swept Palestinian parliamentary elections in January 2006, saying it feared Hamas would use the money to finance terror attacks. Abbas kicked Hamas out of the Palestinian government after the group took Gaza, clearing the way for a transfer of the money.
Olmert's spokeswoman, Miri Eisin, said Sunday's Cabinet vote was a "decision in principle" to release the funds, and that the "exact amount" would be discussed at Monday's summit and then by the Israeli government.
A Cabinet meeting participant said he expected a "mechanism" for transferring the money to be in place within days. However, he said the money would not begin flowing until Abbas' new government formally accepts international calls to renounce violence and recognize Israel.
The official, who asked not to be identified under Israeli civil servant rules, said the money would be released gradually to ensure it doesn't reach Hamas.
Meeting participants said the proposal passed by an overwhelming majority; only two hard-line ministers voted against it.
Without the funds — mostly customs duties that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinians — the Palestinian government has been unable to pay salaries.
Mohammed Dahlan, a former top Fatah official in Gaza, urged Israel to turn over the money immediately. "This is not a gift," he said. "This is the Palestinian people's money, which was stolen by the Israelis."
Haniyeh said some of the money must be directed to Gaza as well as the West Bank. It "must reach all Palestinian people without discrimination or differentiation," he said.
Olmert also met with top security officials Sunday to discuss removing some of the hundreds of roadblocks Israel has erected in the West Bank. Israel says the travel restrictions are necessary security measures. Palestinians say they are excessive and crushing their economy.
Although no decisions were made, Olmert told his Cabinet that removing the roadblocks would be a necessary risk. "We are strong enough to take calculated risks," he was quoted as saying.
In return, Israel will demand in Egypt that Abbas confront militants — something he had been reluctant to do before Hamas' Gaza victory.
"We shall present there our expectations from the opposite side, our demands on the issues of security and the war against terror, but definitely also our readiness to cooperate with the new government," Olmert said in televised comments before the Cabinet meeting.
Since losing control of Gaza, Abbas has acted with uncharacteristic determination: He expelled Hamas from its coalition government with his Fatah movement, set up an emergency Cabinet, and embarked on a widening crackdown on the Islamic group that has included arrests of hundreds of gunmen in the West Bank and a plan to dry up its funding.
The Hamas takeover of Gaza also complicates the case of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who has held captive by Hamas-linked militants in the coastal territory for a year.
On Sunday, hundreds of protesters gathered outside Israel's Parliament to mark the one-year anniversary of Shalit's capture.
Noam Shalit, the soldier's father, criticized the government for failing to win his son's release.
"If an entire country, its leaders...the sophisticated systems it has, satellites, drones, can't bring back a soldier from captivity after an entire year, and can't even get firm information about his condition and health, then we should all be worried," Shalit said.
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"...End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path...one that we all must take.
The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all change to silver glass...and then you see it...
...white shores...and beyond...the far green country under a swift sunrise."
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