Fiddling with the spigot

Posted By Andrew Kamons Wednesday, May 10, 2006 - 6:24 PM Share

Just as the "Quartet" (the United Nations, ~~Israel~~, U.S., E.U., and Russia) negotiated a resumption of aid to the Palestinians, the Associated Press reports that an Israeli gasoline supplier has cut off shipments to the Palestinian territories after a failure to receive payments. As the only source of fuel for the territories, not only does this disable transportation, it will also affect hospitals and other government services. After Hamas took power, the Palestinians lost funding from most Western donors and the United States has successfully pressured many Arab nations to block funds as well. The Israeli government has also frozen tax transfers owed to the Palestinian government.

The Quartet is determined to use tough tactics to punish the Hamas led government without punishing the people (at least not too much). All along, they have stated that they will not deny emergency provisions like health services or food aid. So they aren’t totally heartless. But whatever their policy objectives, it is unclear how they can accomplish them without imposing severe hardship on the Palestinian people.

EXPLORE:MIDDLE EAST, ISRAEL/PALESTINE

Passport, FP’s flagship blog, brings you news and hidden angles on the biggest stories of the day, as well as insights and under-the-radar gems from around the world.