Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Foreign Policy & News The Triumph of US/Israeli Policy in Palestine

. . . all the US or Israel has to do is withhold its blessings, causing these 'brothers' to begin killing each other in no time.

After Israel completed its unilateral withdrawal from Gaza last September, ending a 38-year presence, Palestinians expected an explosion of commerce and opportunity in this sandy strip, which is about twice the size of Washington with almost three times the population.

But after the election in January of a parliament dominated by Hamas, the radical Islamic movement that refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist, international donors led by the United States cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority. Israel stopped transferring the tax revenue it collects for the Palestinians, and the Palestinian Authority's monthly income dropped from $150 million to $20 million or less, according to the United Nations.

Since then, the Gaza Strip's economy has been strangled. The largest employer, the Palestinian Authority, has been unable to pay more than token salaries to its 160,000 employees -- teachers, clerks, health care workers, police officers -- in six months.

Israel has enforced a blockade, allowing almost no goods to leave Gaza and only limited food supplies to enter. Most industry has shut down. Electricity and water services have been intermittent since Israel bombed the main power station here.

"Gaza is heading down the tubes," said John Ging, director of operations for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

On top of the Western sanctions, Palestinians say Israeli settlements, military checkpoints and a barrier cutting into the West Bank have also hit their economy because they seal off towns from workplaces, schools and farm fields.

Israel says the barrier and checkpoints are needed to prevent militant attacks.

Abbas renewed his call for early presidential and parliamentary elections if factions failed to reach agreement on a unity government. Hamas, which trounced Abbas's Fatah faction a year ago, says a snap election would amount to a coup.

“In misery and poverty you find the seeds of violence,” Ging told Reuters in an interview.

The Islamist Hamas faction seized control of Gaza after fierce fighting last week with the rival Fatah group of President Mahmoud Abbas.

The United States, Israel and some European states plan to quickly lift a ban on direct aid to a new Palestinian government sworn in by Abbas on Sunday in place of a Hamas-led unity government, but it is unclear how much money may flow to Gaza.

Israel, which controls Gaza’s borders, hopes to isolate the territory after the Hamas takeover. It stopped most fuel supplies on Sunday, putting hospitals and business on hold.

Rubbish. Total, rubbish, Stereoman.