Hamas has 'overwhelming responsibility' for Gaza war: EU

[oberliner]

(JABALIYA) - Hamas bears overwhelming responsibility for the war in Gaza, a senior EU official said on Monday in the Palestinian territory, labelling the Islamists "a terrorist movement."

"At this time we have to also recall the overwhelming responsibility of Hamas," Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, told reporters in Gaza.

"I intentionally say this here -- Hamas is a terrorist movement and it has to be denounced as such," Michel said as he visited the town of Jabaliya in Gaza's north, one of the places that bore the brunt of the Israeli assault.

"In order for the EU to relaunch a political dialogue with a minimal chance of succeeding and a chance of moving forward towards peace, Hamas must accept the two little conditions that were put to it -- one, the right of Israel to exist and two that it abandon the armed struggle, the terrorist dimension of its approach."

http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1232960521.84

[Chulanowa]

1. Do Israel's spokespeople at least compare notes?

I mean we went from them claiming Hamas broke the cease-fire agreement, to saying Israel did, to talking about tunnels that didn't actually exist , to claiming that it's all Hamas' fault, and only 250 of nearly thirteen hundred people killed were civilians.

Seriously, I'm not going to point fingers in this post, except to say that if Israel's going to do propaganda, it needs to at least get all its shit in one basket. Fucking hell.

[LeftishBrit]

2. I think Israelis would be very surprised to hear Louis Michel described as an 'Israeli spokesman'

He is in fact very critical of both Israel *and* Hamas. (Appropriately, IMO.)

[Chulanowa]

3. Point. My mistake

Could you point me to where he demands an unconditional surrender from Israel in return for absolutely nothing, as well?

[cali]

4. Actually, it's not nothing in return. The EU is offering Hamas something:

Recognition of its legitimacy as a representative of the Gazan people, and the stripping of the designation of terrorist organization. And he's not demanding unconditional surrender from Hamas.

[LeftishBrit]

5. Well, here are a few links to articles detailing some of his strong criticisms of Israel.

english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/20091416255233877.html

www.euromedinfo.eu/site.168.news.en.5076.html

www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5id2EhQv6jq0iG07Ezz2yR2JkKScA

www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=34889


And in the article that Oberliner quotes, he expresses horror at the level of devastation caused by the bombing of Gaza, and calls for a complete opening of the border. I would hardly call that a demand for 'absolutely nothing'.

I would say that Michel is one of the people most genuinely concerned with the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza, and has done more than most people to try to get aid to the Palestinians, and to press for an end to the blockade


It is often rightly pointed out that criticizing the Israeli government does not make you an antisemite. Similarly, criticizing Hamas does not make you anti-Palestinian.

[Idealism]

6. It is quite odd for an EU spokesman to denouce only Hamas in this article

as the clear aggressor, when the EU has been pushing hard for a World Court prescedent for extrajudicial killings (assassinations- politicial/tactical) that Israel has been doing for much of the past two decades.

These extrajudicial killings of Palestinian leaders predate suicide bombings and Qassam fire from Gaza.

That said, the EU has publicly denounced Israel's assassination tactics in the past.

[LeftishBrit]

8. He doesn't. He makes plenty of criticisms of Israel as well.

[Idealism]

9. Seems his main problem is all the wasted money spent in Gaza

and having to rebuild the place. If you read the last 6 paragraphs or so, he does not mention once why he has to continuously rebuild Gaza, only how much money they "waste" there, how their donor countries are becoming restless with all the euros that are sent there for "nothing."

[Howardx]

10. fully 3/4's of the article

consists of that, very curious how the headline ended up "Hamas has 'overwhelming responsibility' for Gaza war: EU"

[Howardx]

7. interesting spin

heres the rest

"Blasting the "abominable" destruction in Gaza, Michel said the European Union, the main donor to the Palestinians, was sick of paying for same infrastructure that's destroyed over and over again in the Palestinian territories, in an apparent allusion to repeated Israeli military operations.

"Public opinion is fed up to see that we are paying over and over again -- be it the (European) commission, the member states or the major donors -- for infrastructure that will be systematically destroyed," said Michel, known for his critical comments about Israel.

He said the bloc had approved an additional 60 million euros in aid to Palestinians in the wake of the Gaza offensive.

"Since 2000, Europe has spent three billion euros in Palestine," he said. "Every year, we spend 600 to 700 million euros. Today we decided on a supplementary payment of 60 million euros.

"All we do is pay. You know very well that from time to time we pay several times for the same infrastructure that is regularly demolished."

"Europe is doing all that it can, but unfortunately it cannot do any more. Show me a political body or an institution that is more engaged than Europe in helping the people of Palestine, because I'm not aware of one.

"It is abominable, indescribable. It goes well beyond what I imagined. I didn't doubt that it was serious. It is going to be extremely difficult to reconstruct and it will no doubt cost an enormous amount of money to bring people to decent living conditions," he said.

Michel repeated numerous international calls on Israel to open Gaza's border crossings, which have been sealed to all but basic humanitarian aid since Islamist Hamas, sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state, seized power there in June 2007.

"The access really must be complete and not just medicine and food, we need goods in order to restart the minimal economic activity -- including fuel, spare parts, cement, all that will little by little permit a rebuilding of minimal living conditions," he said."

the comment about hamas was the LEAST of what he said to reporters.

[oberliner]

11. Who is doing the spinning?

This article was printed this way with this headline on the EU's own website.

[Howardx]

12. EUBusiness.com is

the hamas remark was the least of what the guy had to say "EU disgusted with repeated destruction of gaza infrastructure" would have been much more accurate considering that was what the article was really about!

[ProgressiveProfessor]

13. E.U. aid chief: Hamas responsible for Gaza

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- The European Union aid chief said that Hamas bears an "enormous responsibility" for what happened in the Gaza Strip.

Louis Michel, the European commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, added during his visit Monday to Gaza that "Hamas is a terror movement and needs to be treated as such and held responsible for its actions."

While in Gaza, Michel announced more than $75 million in aid to vulnerable Palestinian populations through the European Commission's 2009 Global Plan. Approximately $41.5 million will be earmarked to respond to the dramatic humanitarian situation in Gaza, and about $26 million will be for assistance to the West Bank. The rest will go to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, according to a statement from the European Commission.

Michel was scheduled to visit Sderot and meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials.

He condemned Israel's bombardment of the economic infrastructure of Gaza and called on Israel to open its border crossings to food and medicine, as well as building materials.

Hamas criticized Michel's comments, according to reports.
=====================================================
http://jta.org/news/article/2009/01/26/1002513/eu-aid-chief-hamas-responsible-for-gaza

While this is not a particularly good source, it does echo other reports from the EU