U.S. to send money to Palestine

The U.S. State Department announced today that Palestine would receive $59 million to put towards security forces training and improving border conditions. The money is being routed through Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to keep it out of Hamas' hands.

This seems rather bitter-sweet to me considering we are once again cutting Hamas out of the picture. Hamas gained control of the Palestinian government via fair elections and should be negotiated with like any other government. Cutting them out of the process just fuels the fire that is already burning. Cooperation with Hamas could lead to some breakthroughs in the peace process which has sputtered tremendously under the Bush Administration.

And while $59 million is certainly a large sum of money, one can't ignore the fact that Israel receives a minimum of $3 billion annually, and has been since signing the Camp David Accord in 1978. Certainly this $59 million is helpful to a deeply impoverished Palestine, but it's almost a simultaneous slap in the face as well when you compare it to what the U.S. throws to Israel each year.