Have your say: Palestinian crisis

Residents and officials in the UAE have condemned the decision by many Western nations to suspend international aid to the Hamas government, a move which is leading to a humanitarian crisis in Palestine.

Is the international community justified in withdrawing funding to the Palestinian Authority? Are the people being 'punished' for electing a Hamas government? Should Arab leaders - as suggested by Dubai's police chief, Lt. General Dahi Khalfan Tamim - give "help and support"?

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Wake up call
So many people are being hurt, killed and maimed in Palestine, but no one seems to care. We as humans who turn a blind eye to the carnage in Palestine have become monsters and have lost our own humanity.
So Arab nations wake up and help your brothers and sisters in Palestine. They need you.
Lamees
London

Political drama
If anyone would ever hope that the US would bring a "just" peace to the Palestinian crisis, I say they live in a utopian world.  We saw the ever defiant Bush declaring shamelessly his unshakable support to the Jewish state in his recent speech at the American Jewish Congress. What the world has been witnessing for the past 40 years or so has been a political drama organised by the US and Europe with all their hypocrisy. Franky speaking, with the current world political set-up, I am hopeless that there would ever be a "just" solution to this "crisis" unless otherwise something miraculous happens!
Haris
Sharjah

Lamentable
The US and other Western nations give monetary aid for many reasons but generally not for the support of regimes that refuse to renounce the use of terrorist tactics for political purposes and particularly when the aim of these tactics is the expressed destruction of another sovereign nation.

While the suffering of the Palestinian people is indeed lamentable, the election of Hamas was a free choice of the people and they are learning that elections have consequences, some good, some perhaps not so good. To suggest that the West somehow owes support to a regime that does not share one basic value with the people they ask support of, is to ask for the politically impossible and the morally indefensible.

The oil exporters of the Middle East are now enjoying record revenues from their sales to the West. Would it not be more reasonable to expect that these mega rich states might now support their Palestinian "brothers" in their hour of need? Perhaps they too find the prospect of a politically powerful Hamas succeeding not to their liking.
Steve
Ford Wa.

Giving legitimacy to claims
When the US uses its financial infrastructure as a weapon to topple a democratically elected government, then it is giving legitimacy to Al Qaida's claims that US financial infrastructure is not a civilian but a military target.
Hewad
Dubai

Peace talks
I think that the money being spent on weapons and explosives should be channelled into helping the people of Palestine. The Palestinian people need peace by talks and not killing. They deserve the chance to show that they are strong by taking the iniative.
Betty
By e-mail

Cry fair
I agree with the view that the Palestinian people are being punished for their democratic choice of government. The US asked for fair democratic elections in the Middle East and when the people did that and chose Hamas, the US they stopped supprt for hamas. The United State's interpretation of democracy changes to suit their own needs. If Hamas was chosen by the people in democratic elections why cut off aid and punish the people?
Salam
By e-mail

No thanks
It makes me sick to be blamed for the humanitarian situation.  We cut aid to the government - not the people.  The US and EU still send millions of dollars in aid to humanitarian organizations and NGOs that feed, cloth, and help the Palestinian people.  What have Arab countries done?  What have Islamic humanitarian organizations done?  You NEVER thank us for the aid we send, yet call us murderers and evil when we stop sending it. Why don't the ultra-rich leaders of GCC countries give aid?
Ethan
By e-mail

Live with choice
At world record oil prices ($75 a barrel), the Middle East is flush with cash.  We hear a lot about "arab solidarity" but when push comes to check writing I guess that unity is in "spirit" only. The US is always the bad guy, when we funded the PA we were "one-sided" in our support for Israel.  Now we stopped funding the PA and we are "one-sided" in our support for Israel. Why should the US continue to fund terrorists like Hamas?  The people of Palestine made their choice, now they must live with it.
Robert
By e-mail

Not justice
If Palestinians can't elect whom they want, westerners should not talk about democracy. It is not justice to suspend or block aid to victims.
Mohamed
Dubai

Expect no aid
Since it is obvious that the Palestinian people want a group of terrorists to lead and represent them, they should not expect the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world to continue giving them aid.  I am a US citizen and have stopped giving aid to anyone because the recipients of aid see giving as a sign of weakness on the part of the giver. So I really think that the Palestinians are getting what they deserve.  I also believe that other Arab countries probably cannot be expected to help the Hamas government or the people.  They haven't done much in the past.  There's really no incentive since they will never be paid back.
Harvie
By e-mail

Stop an ugly crisis
Reading your article on the Palestinian crisis, I feel it is about time the Arab nation stood up to the West and stop this ugly crisis. Palestinians have suffered enough, but Bush will definetly punish them for choosing a Hamas-led government. Should the  blood of innocent Palestinian children run on the roads of Palestine for the world to see what they have done by stopping aid?
Anisa
By e-mail