Soccer Dad

The state of the palestinian economy Part III

A telling answer from the Dennis Ross interview by Deborah Solomon

Why would an extremist like Ismail Haniyeh and the other leaders of Hamas care what we think anyhow?

Think about this: The Palestinians get about a billion dollars a year from the outside. This year the U.S. was giving them about $350 million, a certain percentage of which was for the Palestinian Authority, but most of it for nongovernmental organizations.

Can't Palestinians get the same support from their fellow Arab nations?

Well, the Arabs give them very little money. The Saudis, who give them the most, have been giving them about $84 million a year. The Egyptians give them no money. There is a genuine sense of grievance throughout the Arab world on the Palestinian issue. But Arab leaders are more prepared to talk about doing something than to actually do it.

How Ross can say that the Arab world has a "genuine sense of grievance" over the Palestinian issue is beyond me. They're perfectly willing for the Palestinian issue to be the source of hand wringing in Israel and the West, but are unwilling to lift a hand to resolve it. They're willing to appeal to politicians, diplomats, journalist and academics that the West isn't doing enough, that America is not being "even handed" while they keep their hands in their pockets and make righteous pleas for justice. But they don't really want to solve the conflict. They want it to persist. That way Israel comes under scrutiny for its lack of "human rights" and they escape a closer look.

Consider this post-mortem of the 2000 Camp David talks from the New York Times

During the last few days, a number of Arab leaders like Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudia Arabia and President Mubarak have joined with Mr. Arafat's domestic opponents in Islamic militant movements to weigh in on the issue. They all but threatened Mr. Arafat with political excommunication if he accepted Prime Minister Ehud Barak's proposals for administrative control over parts of the city and access to -- but not sovereignty over -- the major Muslim sites.

It is the West that allows this travesty to go on, throwing capital - political and financial - the way of the Palestinian and letting the Arab/Muslim world off the hook. (Not to mention the Palestinians themselves.)

It was wrong of the United States to press Israel to release tax funds to the Palestinians. It was wrong of Israel to accede to the pressure. It was the Palestinians who voted for Hamas. They were not forced to. It is time to hold them - and the Arab/Muslim world - accountable.

Part III, Part II and Part I

Technorati Tags: PLO, corruption.

Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.

Posted by SoccerDad at February 7, 2006 6:04 AM