I guess this really shouldn’t be surprising that the citizens of Palau are not happy about being neighbors with terrorists:

The tiny Pacific nation of Palau’s decision to allow 13 Chinese Muslims from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp to resettle there has sparked anger among islanders who fear for the safety of the tranquil tourist haven.

The U.S. government determined last year that the Chinese Muslims, or Uighurs, were not enemy combatants and should be released from the U.S. military prison in Cuba. China has objected to their resettlement, calling the men “terrorist suspects” and demanding they be sent home.

The U.S. has said it fears the men would be executed if they were returned to China.

Palau President Johnson Toribiong explained his decision to grant the Uighurs entry as traditional hospitality, but public opinion has appeared overwhelmingly negative. Some complained Friday that the government failed to consult the people.

“I totally disagree” with allowing the Uighurs onto Palau, Natalia Baulis, a 30-year-old mother of two, told The Associated Press by telephone.

“It’s good to be humanitarian and all, but still these people … to me are scary,” she said.

The Uighurs (pronounced WEE’-gurs) have been in custody since they were captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2001.

Fermin Nariang, editor of the Palau newspaper Island Times, said he had been stopped in the streets of the capital, Koror, by residents venting their anger.

“This is a very small country … and some are saying if the whole world doesn’t want these folks, why are we taking them?” Nariang said.

The newspaper quoted islander Debedebk Mongami as saying, “I’m also afraid this news is going to scare the tourists who plan to come to Palau.”  [Associated Press]

If you are wondering wondering why the people of Palau are so upset about having these people dumped on them here is an indication why:

Within the Uighur community are extremist groups who are radical Islamist fundamentalists dedicated to using terrorism to achieve their goals of independence.  (………..)

Just to be clear, these men are not choirboys who strayed on the path home from church services.  They were captured in Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, in which they were by their own admission undergoing training so that they could return to China to be terrorists supporting an independent Uighur Islamic nation.  In several cases they were captured by the Northern Alliance or its supporters and eventually screened by US forces.  Some reports on anti-war websites claim that the Uighurs were “sold” to Americans for $5,000 apiece, but this is an unconfirmed rumor.

But the TV privileges underscored potential difficulties to come, according to one current and one former U.S. official. Not long after being granted access to TV, some of the Uighurs were watching a soccer game. When a woman with bare arms was shown on the screen, one of the group grabbed the television and threw it to the ground, according to the officials.  [LA Times]

So for everyone living in Palau have fun with your non-dangerous Uighur neighbors who smash TV’s at the first sighting of women with bare arms.

So why did the Palau government accept the Uighurs when no one else would?  Follow the money:

Palau will also receive $200 million in development and other aid as thanks for taking in the Uighurs, according to two US officials speaking to the AP on the condition of anonymity. A senior State Department official quoted in The New York Times rejected the idea that the money was a quid pro quo.

Whatever the cause, it’s a generous sum, especially for a country with the population of a typical American suburb (about 20,000 people) whose gross domestic product barely tops $167 million.  [Christian Science Monitor]

Think about this, the Obama administration is willing to pay roughly $15 million per terrorists for a third country to take them.  The Uighurs are considered the least dangerous of the detainees at Gitmo.  How much will the US government have to pay for the more dangerous ones?

What I find most ironic about all of this is that the American government would like China to help them get the two detained journalists in North Korea back, but at the same time they refused to give back to the Chinese government the Uighurs at Gitmo that were committed to the violent expulsion of Chinese control in Western China.