Gerald Steinberg’s letter to the editor of the Guardian, February 14, 2007  in response to Adam Leach, "Give Palestine a Chance", The Guardian, February 10, 2007.

Gerald Steinberg’s letter to the editor of the Guardian, February 14, 2007:

Powerful charities such as Oxfam should focus on humanitarian aid, not produce simplistic political statements (Letters, February 10). Adam Leach may be well intentioned, but he presents a highly distorted and patronising view of the causes of Palestinian suffering and the absence of peace. The massive diversion of aid to support terror and the corruption in the Palestinian Authority is well documented. Mr Leach prematurely claims that the agreements signed in Mecca will end civil violence, while more prudent and experienced analysts note the obstacles to the implementation of this agreement. Click here to read article


Excerpt from Adam Leach, "Give Palestine a Chance", The Guardian, February 10, 2007:

This simplistic call for massive funding of the Palestinian Authority, without demanding an end to Hamas’s support terror and calls for the destruction of Israel, highlights Oxfam’s political agenda, far beyond its mandate as a charity.  The analysis also erases the context of terror and Palestinian corruption. 

"For too long the international community, represented by the Quartet – the US, European Union, Russia and the UN – has seen this crisis too much through the distorted lens of the "war on terror". It has also been far too leaden-footed in advancing the peace process. …  The Quartet needs to support this breakthrough swiftly, decisively and wholeheartedly by ending its aid boycott of the Palestinian Authority. Since the aid boycott and Israel’s withholding of Palestinian tax and customs payments, poverty has spiralled out of control."  Click here to read article