Custom officials and guards at Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza confiscated 800000 dollars from a Hamas envoy returning from a fundraising mission in the Arab world. The money was meant to pay for the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Rafah crossing is under the authority of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas who has been locked in a power struggle with Hamas recently.
Puppet Abbas is following Israel, the US and the EU in cutting aid to the Palestinians. How do you want Palestinians to trust someone like him as head of the PA ?
If Hamas was able to win the elections it is because the Fatah sold itself to Israel and corruption and lost the trust and the respect of the Palestinian people !
''My people decide the truth in sixty countries every morning. And in every one it's different.''
Since March 29th 2006
3 comments:
I found this news story, as reported in the mainstream press, very puzzling. What is meant by "smuggling" money? Usually the term "smuggling" refers to contraband. Money is only contraband if it is stolen.
I'm beginning to wonder--if I went to Gaza with a thousand dollars in donated funds for Shifa hospital, would I be arrested and charged with "smuggling"??
Elizabeth:
I suspect that for you, as an American citizen (I assume), things could get a lot worse once you get back home!
Try not to end up like "Rachel Pancake", as Corrie is so affectionately known with the wingnut crowd...
Elizabeth,
The control over the money entering the territories is so tight that your 1000 dollars will not go unnoticed.
The Hamas official carrying the money is not a smuggler and again we face here ad hoc definitions tailored to suit those who use them.
It is like terrorism. suicide attacks in Israel and Irak are considered terrorism but the invasion of Irak and the occupation of Palestine with their dramatic implications for civilians (which are far more important than the fallouts of suicide attacks) are not considered as terrorrism !
Post a Comment