Wolfensohn Quits

I don't mean to be so serious on a Friday morning, but I feel obliged to point out an article in TIME Magazine by Tony Karon. It's called "Is the Hard Line Against Hamas Working?", and it reports on the events surrounding the resignation of UN-appointed economic advisor to the Palestinan Authority James Wolfensohn (you might remember that Mr. Wolfensohn was World Bank Chief before Wolfowitz).

Wolfensohn's reason for resigning:

He said the current U.S.-Israeli financial blockade of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority looks set to destroy the administrative institutions on which a two-state solution would be based, and negate 12 years and billions of dollars of investment by the international community in establishing the infrastructure of Palestinian self-rule.

...

Israeli papers report that Wolfensohn's decision also came in response to the U.S. — at the behest of Israeli officials — blocking a plan by Britain, the E.U. and the Arab League to have salaries of PA employees paid directly into their bank accounts, bypassing the Hamas administration. U.S. Treasury officials have warned that any banks processing such transactions would face sanctions from Washington, and none dared risk being shut out of the international finance system. That blocked a plan by Middle Eastern governments such as Iran, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to provide the tens of millions of dollars needed to pay the salaries on which close to half of Palestinian households depend.

The US is making damn sure that a two-state solution won't happen any time soon.

US government policy is to starve Palestinians because of their majority choice in a democratic election. On the other hand, we're letting Israel basically do whatever it wants, watching them take advantage of the situation to redraw their borders illegally and unilaterally.

If anyone thinks that this is a reasonable (or even morally upright) stance, I'd like to hear it. Outrageous.