What have we paid for with Palestinian handouts?

They say you get what you pay for. But what exactly have we paid for? As recently as Sept. 2, according to Palestinian Media Watch, the PA's "Voice of Palestine" was sermonizing against "heretical" America, exhorting the Muslim faithful to attack Americans in Iraq -- just the latest instance of anti-U.S. propaganda carried on PA-run radio. A few weeks ago, the PA's so-called Ministry of Culture released its "Book of the Month," a collection of poetry honoring murder-bomber Hanadi Jaradat. This "Rose of Palestine" killed 29 Israeli Jews and Arabs at a crowded Haifa eatery in October 2003, back when such carnage was still shocking.
Palestinian Media Watch also noted a PA government newspaper report about female Hamas terrorists -- photographed holding American-made automatic rifles.

All of which should make us wonder: Have we paid for a "peace process," or have we financed holy war (jihad)? Have we supported a "peace partner"? Or have we just helped create a terrorist state? Time, maybe a very short time, will tell what already seems clear -- except to our secretary of state. Or so I wish. That is, I wish it were myopia alone that had brought us to this not-so-pretty pass. It could be, however, that with the rise of Condoleezza Rice, the current Bush administration now reflects the re-ascendance of the old Bush-Baker-Scowcroft school of foreign policy Arabism.

That would explain the distressing symbolism in the State Department's apparent snub of Israeli offers of aid in the early aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, as reported by the news Web site World Tribune.com. Certainly, State Department spokesmen have quite remarkably omitted Israel's name when ticking off countries participating in the relief effort. By now, the United States has received offers of assistance from Israel as well as Arab countries, the latter diplomatically elevated by silence on the former. In the strange, subtle (and not-so-subtle) world of diplomacy, the American cold shoulder "alarmed" Israeli diplomats "concerned that their country was being marginalized," World Tribune.com reported.

But why? Citing unnamed sources, the Web site wrote that "the administration was concerned that (Israeli aid) would deter Arab and Islamic countries from offering assistance." Frankly, if Israeli participation is considered a deal-breaker, then nuts to Arab and Islamic assistance. If we tolerate such bigotry -- like burning synagogues -- our future, I am afraid, does not look very bright.