Hamas/Israel Standoff

The Economist has a sad run-down of the economic hardships in Gaza and the West Bank as the boycott against Hamas continues.

Israel showed remarkable restraint recently when a suicide bomber killed 9 innocent civilians in Tel Aviv without an immediate reprisal by Israel against Palestinian targets. Hamas had the effrontery to call a suicide bombing "legitimate self-defense!"

With that sort of government in power, the Quartet and international NGOs will hardly be scrambling to supply Hamas with humanitarian assistance. Mahmoud Abbas does not support refusal to recognize Israel, but his Presidential office cannot handle distribution of funds to PA government offices.

Perhaps Arab nations or Islamic hardline states like Iran might enable the PA to get enough funding to pay their bills, but Israel should not have to sustain a neighboring country which refuses to recognize its right to exist.