This is an economic boycott?

Maybe it’s because I plan to do my taxes later today - so I am feeling a little more fragile and/or frazzled than normal but this story really grinds my gears. According to this Jerusalem Post article aid to the Palestinian Authority reached the highest levels ever – EVER.

International aid to the Palestinians grew from about $1 billion in 2005 to more than $1.2 billion in 2006, despite a boycott of the Hamas-led government, officials said Wednesday. Much of it was emergency aid from Europe, the United Nations and the Arab world that was funneled to people outside the government to ease a humanitarian crisis largely triggered by the international sanctions.

As the world weighs whether to also shun the new Palestinian government, a coalition of Hamas and Fatah, critics say the sanctions have cost the donors more money while causing long-term damage to the Palestinian economy. Israel is pushing for a continued boycott, but Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Wednesday that "we wholeheartedly support efforts by the international community to upgrade support to the Palestinian people."
(…)
In the past year, the Palestinians received more than $1.2 billion, compared to $1 billion in 2005, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA. Mario Mariani, the head of the European emergency aid mechanism, said total European aid came to about €700 million in 2006, an increase of more than 30 percent from the year before.

Palestinian officials said it's a rough estimate, because it's not clear how much money came from the Arab world, particularly Iran, or was carried into Gaza in cash-stuffed suitcases by Hamas officials. The aid was delivered less effectively because - in an attempt to bypass the Hamas government - it went to multiple recipients, including Abbas's office and Palestinians' personal bank accounts, rather than to the Treasury.

So the Palestinian Authority received 1.2 billion representing a 30% increase over the previous fiscal year (in spite of the western boycott) in addition to X number of dollars from other unspecified Middle East regimes. I should be so boycotted.

Think about it for a minute. If most of the G-8 and the EU has provided only emergency funding, and yet, gives more than ever before; it’s safe to say we are being had – BIG TIME.

Speaking of being had, remember the common motif of the poor oppressed Palestinian Arabs who suffer from the brutality of the Israeli apartheid system – now check out these pictures of Arab homes north of Jerusalem and outside the surrounding the Shiloh area which I found at Shiloh Musings (Part One is here and Part Two is here).

I should be so oppressed. Please someone – anyone!