Starving Hamas Into Submission?

"She is already being spoken of as an Israeli leader in waiting. Today the Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni brings to London the campaign to destabilise the incoming Hamas Palestinian government by starving it of cash.

Israel's policy - described by a spokesman as putting "the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger" - has left London feeling squeamish. Tony Blair and Jack Straw will today undoubtedly show solidarity with Israel, saying Britain is not in the business of funding terrorists. But in private there is anguish that the policy will bring malnutrition to innocent Palestinians and punish them for taking part in a democratic election. The Palestinians are completely dependent on foreign aid for their survival and Israel's campaign to put 3.6 million people on starvation rations is foreboding".

So reports The Independent today. Read the full article here.

If what is planned is some some sort of hope by the Israelis to win the hearts and mind of Palestinians - or to somehow "moderate" the policies or actions of Hamas - it seems a very, very strange way of going about it. Doomed is a word which immediatelty comes to mind!

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