Abbas would give up US aid for Palestinian unity

[P F Tinmore]

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is making a heavy push for reconciliation with Hamas and is willing to give up hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid if that's what it takes to forge a Palestinian unity deal, a top aide said Monday.

The comments were the latest sign that Abbas is giving up on stalled peace talks with Israel and prefers to pursue unity with Gaza's Hamas rulers as he makes a push toward independence.

"Of course we need the American money. But if they use it as a way of pressuring us, we are ready to relinquish that aid," said Azzam Ahmed, an Abbas aide.

Abbas would give up US aid for Palestinian unity - Yahoo! News

 

[High_Gravity]

How would giving up money help unify the Palestinians? makes no sense, thats like saying me giving up my paycheck will bring my and my ex wife back together.

 

[P F Tinmore]

How would giving up money help unify the Palestinians? makes no sense, thats like saying me giving up my paycheck will bring my and my ex wife back together.

The money given by the US is a detriment to the Palestinians.

 

[jillian]

How would giving up money help unify the Palestinians? makes no sense, thats like saying me giving up my paycheck will bring my and my ex wife back together.

it's ridiculous. but i still don't understand why anyone answers the anti-semite troll. he's a pathological liar.

 

[High_Gravity]

How would giving up money help unify the Palestinians? makes no sense, thats like saying me giving up my paycheck will bring my and my ex wife back together.

The money given by the US is a detriment to the Palestinians.

Really? but the money from the Iranians, Saudis, etc. is perfectly fine?

 

[P F Tinmore]

How would giving up money help unify the Palestinians? makes no sense, thats like saying me giving up my paycheck will bring my and my ex wife back together.

The money given by the US is a detriment to the Palestinians.

Really? but the money from the Iranians, Saudis, etc. is perfectly fine?

When the settlers left, almost all of the homes and buildings were razed, leaving hundreds of thousands of tonnes of rubble strewn across the landscape.

Today, most of that is gone and the beginnings of two new cities are just starting to emerge: Asdaah city which is being built on 500 dunams (5,000 hectares) of land, and Namaa, which will cover 200 dunams.

Elsewhere, the Hamas government has started a number of agricultural projects in 12 of the former settlements.

Hamas has meanwhile been establishing projects across the territory by using materials smuggled in from Egypt through a vast network of underground tunnels taxed and regulated by the Islamist-run government.

The government hopes to use land from the former settlements -- which once took up 40 percent of the territory and much of its best farm land -- to achieve agricultural self-sufficiency and reduce its reliance on Israeli imports.

"In the middle of 2009 we launched a strategic plan, despite the blockade, so the government could make use of the liberated lands to achieve self-sufficiency," agriculture minister Mohammed al-Agha said.

The government is now growing water melon, cantaloupe, onion, potato, olives and different fruits on the settlement land and hopes to achieve complete food independence within 10 years.

"Last year we planted around 150,000 olive and fruit trees, and in the next five years we expect to reach 80 percent self-sufficiency in agricultural production," Agha said.

.:Middle East Online :.

 

[P F Tinmore]

How would giving up money help unify the Palestinians? makes no sense, thats like saying me giving up my paycheck will bring my and my ex wife back together.

The money given by the US is a detriment to the Palestinians.

Really? but the money from the Iranians, Saudis, etc. is perfectly fine?

Gaza towards self-suffiency?
Posted in Posts on 09/05/2010 11:17 am by Laila El-Haddad

“Whatever became of the settlement lands? Such lost opportunities! The land has returned and what waste”, we hear time and again from Zionist apologists and their kind. “If only Gazans would make a life for themselves rather than blaming their problems on others!”

In the former settlement of Kfar Darom, where sniper towers once lined the landscape, there is a massive organic composting facility for seasonal plants (as well as a sewage water composting for trees) and pilot organic farm where workshops are conducted to teach local farmers organic practices. Those who choose to implement organic farming are rewarded with free compost and saplings.

In the former Gush Qatif bloc, further south, infinite rows of several varieties of date palms and young olive saplings, both rain-fed crops that do very well in Gaza, dot the horizon as far as the eye can see.

In another section of this vast empty expanse is the “fruit garden”: carefully landscaped donums of a variety of fruit trees, marked with signs by each row, such as mangoes, citrus, apples, and stone fruits. Gaza now relies heavily on imported fruits from Israel, as tens of thousands of its own trees were razed to the ground during the second Intifada, and most recently during Cast Lead. “We hope within 3 years, for these trees to begin to bear fruit, and within 5, for the olives and dates to become productive,” explained my guide.

Perhaps most interesting of all was a farm which grows Oyster mushrooms in closely monitored environs, under the enthusiastic watch of agricultural engineer Amjad al-agha .

The resulting products are either dried or ground and sold to local restaurants, which use them for soup, salads, and sandwiches, and curries, or distributed in plastic baskets to a woman’s empowerment group to finish cultivating and ultimately to sell as a form of income generation.

Al-Agha said the mushrooms provide an alternative source of protein for people, and are a relatively quick and easy to grow (I keep getting asked if there is any export of these products: no, since there no exports-save for some flowers that the Dutch feverishly lobbied the Israeli government to release-being allowed out by Israel. There was also a fish farm, a chicken farm, and much more.

Gaza Mom » Gaza; settlements; Israel; Hamas; agriculture

 

[Ropey]

http://www.usmessageboard.com/israel-and-palestine/161177-can-we-give-tinmore-his-own-board.html