Even the EU has finally begun to realize that Hamas makes a lousy partner for peace.  In assessing the situation after the war, the EU’s aid chief denounced Hamas as a terrorist organization and expressed impatience with spending more money on the same infrastructure, thanks to Hamas’ actions:

Hamas bears full responsibility for the war in Gaza, a top EU official said Monday in the Strip, calling the group “a terrorist movement.”

overwhelming responsibility of Hamas,” Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, told reporters.

“I intentionally say this here – Hamas is a terrorist movement and it has to be denounced as such,” Michel said as he visited the town of Jabalya in northern Gaza.

“Public opinion is fed up to see that we are paying over and over again – be it the (European) commission, the member states or the major donors – for infrastructure that will be systematically destroyed,” he said.

The EU will send €59 million to the Palestinians, although Michel explicitly stated that Hamas would see none of it.  They will spend half of that on repairs in Gaza, and the other half on refugee centers outside of Gaza.  Unfortunately, as Michel understands, this is the equivalent of setting fire to a pile of euros, because Hamas will eventually provoke another war in Gaza and the repairs will get destroyed … again.

Europe’s attachment to the Palestinians almost amounts to an addiction, but Michel may have begun the first step to recovery.  An addict has to admit the problem exists before the addiction can stop.  The EU has finally seen that infusions of cash only bolster Hamas by handing them credit for foreign investment.  That allows Hamas to build political strength — so that they can destroy the investments and start the cycle all over again.

Time to end the cycle of addiction.  Europe needs to make Gaza go cold turkey.  No more investments while Hamas remains in charge.  Send humanitarian aid, but end all infrastucture projects until the Gazans give Hamas the boot.  If we want an end to the cycle of violence in Gaza, Hamas has to go, and the only way to ensure that is to cut off as much of their foreign support as possible.