Does Not Compute
Just two days after the Associated Press reported that aid to the Palestinians “more than doubled in 2006,” the venerable news agency published another article about Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh stating that “Hamas’ refusal to meet international conditions for acceptance means a continuation of the foreign aid boycott that has driven Gaza deeper into poverty.”
On Feb. 21, the Associated Press reported that despite the boycott of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, foreign aid to the Palestinians doubled from $348.5 million in 2005, to $721.7 million in 2006. The article explains the money was “funneled to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.”
The Feb. 23 article, however, provides no such explanation. It merely repeats the convenient, but inaccurate conventional wisdom about lack of foreign aid to the Palestinians. This conventional wisdom has been discredited by the AP’s own reporting, but somebody needs to send Karin Laub, the author of the piece on Haniyeh, a memo.
Reporters looking for a better explanation for the deepening poverty in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank should look elsewhere.
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