Israel Matzav: Effective sanctions

Effective sanctions

Yagil Henkin reviews the history of economic sanctions and concludes that they are almost never effective. He then tries to propose a set of more effective sanctions to deal with Hamas.

So, what sanctions can be applied against Hamas? Apart from controlling the border and an arms embargo, the most effective way to apply pressure on Hamas is not to indirectly pressure them via their population, but rather pressure Hamas itself, as part of a wider strategy. The international community must act, if it is interested in the welfare of Gaza’s residents and curbing radical Islam. To begin with, the Hamas leadership should be prevented from traveling abroad and being officially received – including the leadership based outside of Gaza. Hamas leaders, like other politicians, enjoy traveling, and rightly so - they coordinate activities such as pleading for aid and waging propaganda campaigns. In 2008-2009 alone, Hamas leaders traveled to Syria, Iran, Switzerland and the United Kingdom . This list, of course, does not include meetings conducted in Gaza or Damascus – Jimmy Carter has met with Hamas in both locales.

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Israel Matzav: Effective sanctions