Hamas, which controls the Palestinian parliament (just not the executive, which is led by rival Fatah party's Mahmoud Abbas), has offered to sacrifice itself (well their Prime Minister Ismail Haniya has) if its struggling and oppressed nation can again get international aid and the tax dollars neighbouring Israel keeps taking.
This (cutting of aid, taking of tax revenues, etc.) has all created a humanitarian crisis for Palestinians. They are being bombed and attacked [by Israel] and they have basically no cash flow — especially considering that most Palestinians work for the bleed-dry government. In addition, infrastructure is still damaged from Israeli attacks over the summer and continuing now. More on this Middle East issue soon. Much happened that was ignored because of the massive coverage of US midterm elections.
From afore-linked NYT story:
Hamas committed today to folding its eight-month government if that would restore the international assistance that was cut off after it won national elections earlier this year....
It was a public acknowledgment that Hamas had failed to run the Palestinian Authority on its own terms in the face of an American and Israeli-led cutoff of funds and aid, and that Mr. Haniya and his government would soon be replaced by a “unity” government of technocrats, currently being negotiated with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Hamas refused to meet the three conditions set out by the international community: to recognize the right of Israel to exist, to forswear violence and to accept previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements that imply a two-state solution. In turn, Israel withheld more than $50 million a month in taxes and customs collected for the Palestinians and the United States and Europe cut off direct aid to the Palestinian Authority.
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