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I was explaining to one of the older grandkids the amazing fact of life that the not so nice kids have more hanger-oners - are more popular - than the very nice kids, and how that continues into adult life with wait staff that are not all that nice pulling down 20% to 30% more in tips, in study after study, as folks give more to those that act like they could care less.
Which brings me to the Mid East and the terrorist organization called Hamas, that did start up some city services with minimal corruption, and then won an election with 44% of the vote to their nearest rival Fatah, famed for its incredible corruption, who got 42%. Hamas has given the finger to the UN, the West, indeed just about everyone as they reject even the Saudi peace plan.
The result of this "poor attitude" and the US-EU response of cutting off aid to the Palestinian government has been a doubling of the aid actually going to the Palestinians according to Deutsche Welle's reporting on the bragging of the non-Hamas independent finance minister, Salam Fayyad.
So if the non-governmental organizations (NGO'S)are going to find so many donors so that they can give double the amount of money that was lost due to the EU-USA ceasing all financial support, while Norway and Sweden feel guilty and actually are giving aid directly, why in the world would Hamas ever agree to peace if it thinks that is what the world wants? Giving the finger pays well - and even gets your enemies bad press while you get sympathy as the party hurt by an evil EU-USA cut off of aid (well not all aid - but most of the aid is cut off - but then France is making noises like it wants to join the Sweden/Norway effort). And the Arab summit is pledging $55 million a month in a $2.7 billion pledge for 2007 that provides funds to meet the past commitments that have been unfunded until now.
At least all that aid has got us a Hamas willing to participate in a government with President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah and non-aligned representatives who do meet the conditions set by the West, right? Of course we do not know who sets the government's direction - Hamas or the moderates - and it is the answer to this question that should guide future relations.
When Minister Fayyad let it be known that international aid for Palestine in 2006 was twice as much as the year before, amounts backed up by the World Bank, with the help coming via "emergency aid" out of Europe, the Arab world and the United Nations but which was "paid to organizations without connections to Hamas", one has to laugh at the idea that Bush/Blair and the rest have an ability to pressure Hamas. Aid "paid to organizations without connections to Hamas" is still Hamas getting dollars into the Palestinian economy - why in the world would Hamas want to change its behavior?
Indeed Hamas is getting twice the prior Western aide into Palestine, plus getting the Arab commitment, while it gets a belly laugh as the US-EU boycott crumbles.
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