Our Fearless Leader

When discussing the Palestinian elections, our leader said:

"We support the election process, we support democracy, but that doesn't mean we have to support governments that get elected as a result of democracy," Bush said.

If you place people in a camp that has no ports under its own control, tell them they can have a vote, but if they vote the wrong way you will hold back taxes on the goods that go through those ports and withhold many other types of aid, is that really a voluntary vote?

Bush's response to the vote is to cut off government contacts between Hamas and the US.

WASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) - The United States ordered its diplomats and contractors on Wednesday to cut off contacts with Palestinian ministries after a Hamas-led government was sworn in, the State Department said.

...

Officials said the no-contact policy applied to all parts of the U.S. government, as well as to organizations that receive U.S. funding for projects and services in the Palestinian territories.
U.S. law bars the government from providing direct assistance to any group on the State Department's list of terrorist organizations.

Israel has frozen tax revenue transfers to the Palestinian Authority and has banned contacts with Hamas officials but has yet to spell out its policy on lower-level contacts with technocrats. An Israeli official said the issue would be discussed during a Cabinet meeting on Sunday.

Again, per capita GDP for the west bank is around US$1,100. Link

Reuters