Iran raises tension with £30m gift to Hamas

[ECH1969]

Iran defied America and Europe yesterday when it pledged to give almost £30 million to the new Hamas-led Palestinian government.

The one-off payment from Teheran, which was announced by Manouchehr Mottaki, the Iranian foreign minister, will go some way to plugging the gap in Palestinian finances caused by the recent loss of western aid.

Mr Mottaki appeared to relish announcing the donation, which will fuel the stand-off between the West and Iran over Teheran's nuclear ambitions.

The pledge comes days after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, appeared to threaten Israel with a nuclear attack when he described it as a "rotten, dried tree" facing annihilation by "one storm".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/04/17/wiran17.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/04/17/ixworld.html

[paul_fromatlanta]

1. Qatar too, $50 mill I think.

[Oversea Visitor]

2. Cause they all go elect Hamas

So the power that be say no money
How to run state without money
Isreal refuse to give money from tax collected and from custom to them :rofl:

Looks like Hamas doom. You get the goverment we want and no the one you voted for.

[dipsydoodle]

3. This thread mirrors

a similar one from Sunday - see Politics. Doesn't change the fact it remains breaking news.

[wakeme2008]

4. Well Georgie you cut aid to Palestine and guess who

steps up to the plate to fill your gap...

Surprise Surprise.....

[wellst0nev0ter]

5. Isn't This What The Pro-Israelis Wanted Anyways?

For the muslim states to support the Palestinians financially so the rest of us doesn't have to?

[ckramer]

6. Democracy does not born equal, so it seems

It's the kind of democracy US wanted, not generic democracy basd on the poll result.

Do people around the world still take the US seriously for being in such a double standard?

[NYC]

8. No double standard.

We don't get what we vote for, either.

[HuffleClaw]

7. 'raises tensions' my ass

pissing off bush is not 'raising tensions'

and THIS: "The pledge comes days after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, appeared to threaten Israel with a nuclear attack..." ???

the spin is dizzying today.

[gratuitous]

9. I was listening to Weekend Edition

They had some commentator on, talking about the proposed aid from Iran to Palestine. He didn't think it was a very big deal, more for Iran to tweak the West's collective nose than anything else. But then he ended with what I thought was a very peculiar point: That if the amount of aid Iran gave to Palestine was "small" (albeit he didn't define was "small" was), that it would actually harm Iran's standing in the Middle East because a small grant wouldn't impress people very much.

My thought was that if I was starving on the street, and someone gave me a fiver, I wouldn't think the gesture was "small" in any way, even if the guy who gave me the money was as rich as Bill Gates.

It was just a weird segment: It sounded like no matter what Iran did, it wasn't going to make any difference to the Palestinian on the street, either in practical terms (which I might agree with) or in any other way (which I definitely disagreed with).