Saturday May 13, 2006

I've Been Thinking:

Amr Moussa, the head of the Arab League, called Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He did not have very good news.

Moussa told Abbas that the $70 million the Arab League collected in order to pay out Palestinian salaries will not be forthcoming. Why? Because Arab banks in Cairo and around the world are afraid of the repercussions following a transfer of money to Hamas. They are afraid that the United States will brand the banks as terror co-conspirators.

There ARE other options.

The Quartet suggested asking the Palestinian Authority for the names of those people slated to receive the money and make direct deposits from banks in Egypt. That should not take too long to implement...a few weeks, maybe.

Or cut the checks in the banks and distribute them region by region or mail them.

There ARE ways to solve this problem without punishing the hardworking people deserving of salary.

Instead, the whole situation is being turned into a propaganda tool.