Saturday July 2, 2005

I've Been Thinking:

Today, British PM Tony Blair spent 90 minutes in a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, the defacto ruler of Saudi Arabia.

Blair was in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia trying to garner Saudi support for the G-8 initiative to aid the Palestinians after Israel withdraws from Gaza.

Sounds funny, right? But there is an essential point here.

Why is a Western leader spending valuable time convincing Arab leaders to support the Palestinians?
Because if left to their own desires and devices, the Arab countries would offer little to almost no financial support to the Palestinian cause other than their traditional lip service and anti-Israel statements.

The US and Great Britain know exactly what will happen and are trying to organize Arab donor states in order to better support a productive Palestinian state.
I bet they will get the promises.
I doubt they will get the money.