Reason Writers Around Town: Shikha Dalmia on How American Aid is Ruining the Middle East

The Obama administration threatened two weeks ago to cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority if it proceeds with its plans to forge a unity deal with Hamas, a terrorist outfit in America's book. The Palestinian Authority should get that promise in writing, counsels Reason Foundation Senior Analyst Shikha Dalmia in her latest column at The Daily.

Foreign aid is a curse that has ruined the Palestinians. Indeed, if the administration is seriously interested in Mid-East peace, it should also stop the massive amounts of military assistance it gives Israel. As Dalmia writes:

Contrary to half a century of conventional wisdom, foreign aid has fanned the forces of extremism on both sides, making the prospects for peace less, not more, likely. If money could buy peace, Israelis and Palestinians would now be holding hands and singing "Kumbaya," instead of directing weapons at each other.

 Read the whole thing here.

Comments

[Alan Vanneman]

Shikha for President! (Just keep your hands off my free meds.)

[DJF]

I am much less concerned over how "American Aid" is hurting the Middle East and much more concerned over how it is hurting the US and especially my tax bill and my childrens ever increasing debt load.

[SooWooMoo]

Pretty sad isnt it? I wish America would start dealing with its own problems for a change.

http://www.anon-web.es.tc

[Tman]

Anyone want to take a wild guess which side of the Israeli-Palestine issue Shikha and her friends and family "cheer for" when they hear of another death or setback?

[Anonymous Coward]

The Obama administration threatened two weeks ago to cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority if it proceeds with its plans to forge a unity deal with Hamas, a terrorist outfit in America's book.

Isn't Hamas the legally elected government of the Palestinian Authority?

[Anomalous]

You know what other party was the legally elected government back in 1933?

[Anonymous Coward]

RKSP?

[jtuf]

The USA and the EU installed Fatah as the government so they would have someone they could keep feeling good about giving tax dollars to. The situation is a bit like Mojo World from the X-men. The USA and the EU throw billions of dollars at both sides, and in return these donors get to enjoy watching all the fighting from a safe distance.

[jtuf]

I favor ending USA foreign aid to all nations. This would greatly reduce the death toll in the Middle East. It would also reduce the death toll from the Drug War in Latin America.

[Bob Smith]

Dalmia is delusional if she thinks less money will bring less war. She obviously hasn't read the Hamas charter. If she had, she would realize that the only reason they need for lobbing missiles into Israel is the desire to kill Jews and spread the power of Islam, as the Quran and Muhammad both command.

The moral equivalence Dalmia implies is disgusting. Israel is not shooting missiles into Gaza, it is not smuggling arms and explosives into Gaza. Palestine is doing both to Israel, and every time an Israeli is killed there is (literally) dancing in the streets. That's pretty good evidence that support for killing infidels is widespread in Gaza; it's not just the mythical "tiny minority of extremists".

[RandomJerk]

This article would make more sense if it recognized that the Israelis and Palestinians are not the only two actors in this drama. Israel has many more who threaten to kill them, to whom we provide tons of aid. If we were to stop Israeli aid, the counterbalance would not simply to be to end Palestinian aid. We'd also need to end the massive amount of aid to Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Libya, etc. Otherwise we are leaving Israel with a 22% gap in their defense budget while continuing to fund enemies of Israel who funnel money and materiel to the Palestinians.

Ending aid to Israelis and Palestinians only *increases* the proportion of our aid funding going to those committed to Israel's destruction. If we're going to end aid to the Middle East, end it ALL.

Map of US aid to middle east:
http://marketplace.publicradio.....s-aid.html