Quote Originally Posted by Seamus Fermanagh View Post
Humanitarian aid only works as a stopgap, and only works if the local kleptocrats cannot siphon off the majority for themselves.

In the long run, the "natives" must develop carrying capacity for themselves -- the ability to do things for themselves -- or aid is nought but a sinkhole.
Aye, just shipping in the stuff to the gates of Gaza wont do anything, as we have seen with Africa (warlords taking most of the aid), Iraq, and Afghanistan, and gods know where else, it needs to be put into the hands of the people directly. If Afghanistan is any indication, the villages that got aid from NATO such as food, electricity, and farming equipment, they were the least likely to fight against NATO, as they didnt need the Taliban to survive and didnt believe them when they said that NATO was evil and such. Now then, even if Hamas keeps touting how Israel is satan, yet Israel is bringing in tons of food, water, supplies, etc, who are the Palestinians more likely to believe? The people providing them food? Or the ones giving them nothing. Right now, Hamas is the one trying to meet the daily needs of the Palestinians, bringing more and more of them onto their side, while Israel keeps shelling and dropping bombs, giving Hamas all the reason to say that Israel only wants to destroy them.