PR war, Middle East-style

Two can play the moral superiority game.

Hamas grew in popularity among Palestinians because of the humanitarian assistance it offered people (medical clinics, schools, etc.) while Yasser Arafat and his henchmen were busying lining their pockets.
Now Israel, in a shrewd move, seeks to play that same card against Hamas:

[A]s he prepared to leave Sunday for his first meeting as prime minister with President Bush, Mr. Olmert was also eager to short-circuit criticism of Israeli restrictions on the Palestinians since the militant group Hamas took control of the Palestinian government and to show that Israel was not prepared to see Palestinians suffer. …

“We will pay if necessary out of our own pockets,” he said, and get what is needed directly to the hospitals “as soon as possible,” circumventing the Hamas government. “We wouldn’t allow one baby to suffer one night because of a lack of dialysis,” he said.

Hamas isn’t too happy:

Hamas on Sunday stated that Israel did not have the right to use money taken from Palestinian taxes - not even in order to buy medical supplies for Palestinians.

Hamas is unhappy because this will make Israel look benevolent. Can’t have any of that, now, can we?