In response to repeated acts of terrorism perpetrated by the PLO Fatah, Israel launched operation Defensive Shield in 2002 which was highly successful. Capturing PA documents in Arafats own handwriting awarding financial compensation for acts of terror against Israelis.
Sadam Hussein had also made payments of financial compensation to the family members of those who had perpetrated terror against Israel, when that dictator was still in power in Iraq.
In response to repeated acts of Islamic terrorism from Gaza, Democratic members of Congress,the Quartet's Tony Blair, and the EU's Javier Solana, are all scrambling to Gaza in a "diplomatic shield" to protect Gazan Islamists.
It is highly unlikekly that Israel would conduct a major counter-terror operation with the presence of diplomats in Gaza, or while U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other international diplomats are meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh.
It is at this donors conference in Sharm el-Sheikh that diplomats have pledged nearly $3 billion in financial aid for the PLO Fatah and Gaza, even while rockets and missiles are still being launched against Israel.
The message Islamists can take from this:
Terrorism pays.
The whole idea behind the closure of Gaza's borders with aid restrictions, and counter-terror operations, is not only to stop the terror but to send the message that terrorism against Israel will be more costly and more harmful to Gazans than to Israel. In other words, terrorism will "cost you", big time.
What is the difference between Sadam Hussein, Arafat, Iran, or Saudi Arabia providing financial compensation to families who had carried out suicide/homicide terror attacks against Israel, and International diplomats who award Islamists in Gaza and the Fatah PLO with nearly $3 billion in financial compensation, to help them rebuild and recover from a counter-terror operation in reponse to repeated acts of terror?
Contrary to public statements by various officials, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the other terrorist factions in Gaza will benefit from this aid.
As it has been previously pointed out, you cannot separate the terrorists from the Gazan population. That is where they come from. Their families, their friends,etc.
In that regard, as Sadam Hussein, Saudi Arabia, and Iran have made financial compensation to families of those who perpetrated terror against Israel, so too the International dhimmi diplomats are also providing financial aid to the families, friends, and even terrorists themselves who have perpetrated terror against Israel.
Update-Pledge amount now exceeds $4 billion.
Update 03/03/09---Daniel Pipes wrote on his blog today his thoughts that mirror my own . In the third paragraph above on this post, I wrote three days ago that Democrats, Blair, and Solana were all scrambling to Gaza in a "diplomatic shield" to protect Islamists in Gaza.
Here is what Pipes wrote today:
"What the hell are the donor countries doing, getting in the middle of an on-going war with their high-profile supposed reconstruction effort? My best guess: this permits them subtly to signal Jerusalem that it better not attack Gaza again, because doing so will confront it with a lot of very angry donor governments – including, of course, the Obama administration."-Pipes
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