http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... st_bush_dc

They apparently need help with their current "financial crisis," despite the fact that their former leader died a billionaire. Such a waste.

And in the meanwhile people here in the U.S. and abroad continue to go hungry.....

.... I wonder how long it will be until some Palistine-based "terrorist" group slams us... because it's really just a matter of time.

Our foreign policy (of giving money and weapons and stuff to countries that neighbor ones we're pissed at in hopes of whooing them to our side as allies) sucks.

c-

How neutral of us.

This frees up money so the Palestinians can pay salaries? What the fucking hell? There are so, so many things wrong with this..

Hmmm, interesting, I just read this

It was probably pretty stupid to just flat out give them money, some of it will probably wind up with the terrorists. I don't think it was with bad intentions, just stupid. At least we are trying to reach out to those people, I just think there are ways to do that without giving them money.

Me thinks this frees up money for the PLO-wing to pay suicide bombers' families, much like Hussein did.

Your tax dollars at work.

Don't WE have a financial crisis here in the US? Don't WE have families living in poverty who can't pay their utility bills?

Fucking asshole.

Exactly.

Wait a minute . . . didn't you start this thread?:

http://www.theskyiscrape.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4434

Are you just drawing a distinction because it's Palestine?

I was drawing no parallel between that thread and this one; I was agreeing with the post by genxgirl.

What I was trying to say is, every time the U.S. gives "aid" to a middle-eastern country (Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afganistan, whoever...) we get screwed. I see no plausible reason to give that much money to Palistine for anything, let alone for the reasons given in the news report, given all the other issues we have domestically and how we'll probably just get "f'd" over later anyway.

Hope that clarifies.
c-

The US Government already gives $75 Million in aid to Palistine per year. All but $20 Million of that goes to third party aid organizations, while the rest has been recently approved for the Palistinian Authority. The US gives $3 billion to Israel per year (helping to fund one of the most potent military forces on the planet). In other words, we are putting much more than $20 Million into this region. If one is outraged about this latest amount, one needs to take a look at the big picture and the multiple billions of dollars we have been giving away over the years. At the same time, we need to consider the reasons why the government is doing it. I am sure there are both good and bad reasons behind the aid we supply both the Israelis and Palistinians.

I consider this latest move one which is intended to prop up or promote the establishment of a pro-US Palistinian government. Maybe it will placate our enemies there, and then again it may fund suicide bombers. We can't say for sure yet, but I'm sure somebody did some research on this and there may be alterior motives at work. But it may be a long shot at this point. I'm sure the government will do everything it can to prevent the sum from not being used for its intended purpose, but anything is certainly possible.

If luck prevails, Palistinian leadership will push for and win a state of their own while condemning and cracking down on violence and terrorism. I do not have much faith that they'll be able to live together over there peacefully, but I think its worth a shot.

notable from the article are these two lines:

"They [the funds] have been designated to pay utility services, including the payment of arrears to Israeli utility companies . . ."

"Israel gets about $3 billion a year from Washington."

But of course it is, no doubt.

Well spoken; good of you to hope.

I, unfortunately, and perhaps sadly, have no faith in any of those countries or governments over there ever NOT fighting/hating one another, no matter how much money (or how many troops) we throw their way.

And its a crying shame.