Wednesday November 15, 2006

I've Been Thinking:

The financial boycott against Hamas is still working.
There is little doubt in my mind that the most effective tool for clamping down on terror is cutting off their money. That includes Hamas.

Yesterday, a Palestinian deputy minister wanted to cross from Egypt into Gaza. He declared that he was carrying 2 million Euros of aid that he had collected in Saudi Arabia. The Egyptian border guard told the minister that he would need approval. The border is controlled by Egyptians on their side, Gazans on their side and EU representatives and Israelis who monitor what happens. That is why the minister was not allowed to procede.

Meanwhile on Sunday the Arab league in Cairo met and agreed that they had to try to break the boycott and get promised monies that are sitting in Arab Banks to the Palestinians. They said that $100 million had managed to get to the PA during the past year.

In June the Palestinian Foreign Minster successfully brought in 20 million Euros showing just how porous the Egyptian-Gazan border really is.

Pressure from the boycott is the only way that the Palestinians might be empowered to oust Hamas from power.