Butter Not Guns

In this morning's news, I came across the following:

Israel-Hamas Standoff Deepens Water Woes
The Christian Science Monitor's Rafael D. Frankel reports: "Five hundred yards south from where hundreds of children play in the water next to this refugee camp, a pipe spills 20 million liters of raw sewage into the Mediterranean Sea each day. Between 105 and 120 million liters of sewage are generated daily in Gaza. Of that, only 20 million liters are fully treated, while another 40 million liters are partially treated. The rest flows raw into the sea, storm drains, and a massive landfill north of Gaza City, which spans 4.3 million square feet. The resulting pollution has sullied not only the seawater, but also the aquifer below Gaza, causing a severe shortage of potable water and putting the population at risk for a range of illnesses."

What I want to know is, rather than providing Israel with armorment to slaughter Palestinians and bulldozers to destroy their towns and villages, why isn't the U.S. donating or providing at reduced cost to the Palestinians of both Gaza and the west Bank materielle, equipment and expertese to build sewage treatment plants and other inferstructure to help improve their quality of life?

Doing so would be commencerate with vonted U.S. ideals. It would also go a very long way towards improving foreign, especially Arab and Muslem, attitudes towards the United States.

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