dave, where are you?? your town doesnt exist so they say , so where exactly are you ???

dude, seriously, with the EU cutting government payments and the US not far behind in cutting the money, what the hell is Hamas thinking. i know they will get money from saudi and iranian financing. but do they honestly think the ""west"" will stand by if they truly think that (and im loosly quoting)) ""isreal will not exist"". i fear that they will garner closet backing from the islamo regiems there to do something stupid like attacking isreali governmental institutions or something like that.

really in the end im just wondering what you are thinking on the topic being right at the center of the whole thing. where will they head> will they react aggressively to you once there funding dries up.> will they really attempt to operate on the world stage while continually refusing to even aknowledge isreal.

Re: dave part 2

All i will say on the matter is this:-

In the run up to the recent Israeli elecitons, Ehud Olmert - the leader of Kadima, said that by the end of this Knesset term (2010) final border will be defined. His preference is to do that in conjunction with the Palestinian people, but if necessary unilaterally.

Should Hamas wish to participate in a process that furthers the cause for and independent Palestinian state then they should begin negotiating with the government of Israel as soon as possible. If however Hamas wishes to continue behaving like they are an opposition party in the PA, then they will face the full political, economic and if necessary military, wrath of the State of Israel.

However IMHO starving the PA of funds to enable them to continue with their day to day chores is the wrong thing to do. Doner countrys must continue to fund the PA to ensure that the tied of terrorism and islamofacism is stopped in its tracks. If the EU, US, Israel and other doner countries stop the economic aid of the PA then i fear things might not be so good.

There are other methods of maintaining the aid then giving directly to the coffers of HAMAS. Abbas can be strenghtened and could actually wield a great deal of power within the PA. This must be fully considered.

The last thing we need is for Iran to start publically funding the PA!

At the end of the day by 2010 borders will be settled. Hamas can either be part of the process, and go down as the saviours of the Palestinian people, or they can be against, and go down in history as no different from Aratwat.