EU Doesn't Get It

From IBD:
Posted 5/17/2006

Diplomacy: Last year, as Iran sought nuclear weapons and Palestine prepared for an historic vote, Europe insisted on trying its own brand of diplomacy. The results are in, and they aren't pretty.

The Europeans were sure that, with all their savoir faire, they'd run circles around us ham-handed Americans in dealing with Iran and Hamas, the latest terrorist regime in charge of the Palestinian Authority.
What Europeans have discovered — much to their humiliation — is that the Continent is a fast-fading world power of dubious might and influence.

This has been evident everywhere this week, starting with the offer by Britain, France and Germany to build "light water" commercial nuclear plants in Iran to allay fears over Iran's uranium-enrichment program.

It was the latest in a long line of self-abasing "offers" and "incentives" — from trade deals to technology — that the EU3 has placed before Iran's renegade regime. Iran's response could hardly have been more dismissive.
"They say they want to give us incentives," harrumphed hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "They think they can take away our gold and give us some nuts and chocolate in exchange."

Not satisfied with one disaster, the EU stumbled again — this time offering a "subvention" of funds to Hamas, even amid signs the West Bank is collapsing into factionalized chaos as Hamas squares off with other terrorist groups in a blood match over control of the so-called Occupied Territories.

The EU seems to have forgotten one of history's key lessons: Helping a terrorist regime doesn't encourage reform; it only invites contempt for the weakness that tries to buy it off.

Hamas claims to be near bankruptcy and unable to pay its civil servants, teachers, doctors and nurses. And Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says cuts in aid by the U.S. and EU have left Palestinians facing a "humanitarian catastrophe."

That's strange. Just two weeks ago, Israel intercepted a massive shipment of weapons bound for Hamas from China worth millions of dollars. Was Hamas buying on credit?

Those who think the terrorists who control the West Bank won't let children go hungry and the sick go without care once they get more aid are worse than naive.

As Fuad Shubaki, former finance chief to the Palestinian security forces, has revealed, Yasser Arafat used to siphon "millions of dollars" from international aid to buy weapons. Nothing's changed. When you hear "EU aid," think "Palestinian terror."

On Wednesday, Abbas deployed thousands of security forces in the Gaza Strip after Hamas openly challenged his authority. Civil war in Iraq? Try the Occupied Territories.

Meanwhile, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed terror wing of Abbas' Fatah faction, is threatening terrorist attacks against the U.S. and Europe. "We will strike at the economic and civilian interests of these countries, here and abroad," Al Aqsa said.

The EU's naivete, coming from a Continent that prides itself on its sophisticated grasp of reality, is truly breathtaking. Now that the EU has fallen again, it's up to us rubes to pick it up, dust it off and once more engage a common enemy. Same as it ever was.