The Palestinians: The Fruits of the Poisoned Well

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Promoted from the diaries by streiff. Promotion does not imply endorsement.
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A Palestinian protester hurls stones toward Israeli soldiers during a protest near the Gaza Strip border with Israel, in eastern Gaza City, Saturday, March 31, 2018. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)

On August 24th, President Trump took the unusual and long overdue step of stopping funding for the Palestinian Authority through UNRWA- the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.  It is estimated that the United States contributed $200 million per year. It should be noted that this sum is only part of the aid given the Palestinians annually as there are other programs and conduits to provide that aid.

While the Palestinian Authority (PA) rails against Israel and the movement of the US embassy to Jerusalem, three things become painfully clear.  First, the PA is perhaps the most unappreciative recipient of US aid in the world. Second, the PA is a confused and disorganized organization that likely squanders such aid as some reports indicate.  Third, as such, the Palestinians are unworthy of their own state.

In 1967, the Israeli army captured the Gaza strip from Egypt.  In 2005, they relinquished control of the area and turned it over to the Palestinians.  For the past 13 years, it has been a thorn in the side of Israeli security and a base for terrorist activity.  If turning over the Gaza was a test run for the Palestinians to see if they could actually govern themselves, they have failed the test miserably.

In July, 2017 the US consulate had to cancel a scheduled summit in the city of Nablus with the PA.  The purpose of the meeting was to strengthen cooperation and expand economic opportunity for the Palestinians.  That meeting had to be cancelled out of security concerns for the US delegation. Palestinian protesters promised to foil the meeting and called for a boycott of the delegation.  They succeeded.

After the decision to cut funding to UNRWA, the Palestinians staged protests in Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinians.  They burned pictures of President Trump and other US officials chanting the US was complicit in the Israeli “aggression and war against the Palestinian people.”  In short, they were demanding that the US restore funding to UNRWA. The message was clear: we hate you, but give us your money.

The day after the Ramallah protests, there was a meeting between US officials and those from the Palestinian business community in safer territory- Jerusalem.  Again, the meetings were met with protests and calls to boycott them. This was not some radical outsiders organizing these protests and boycotts. They were led by Shadi Mtour and Awad Salaymeh- two leaders within the Fatah faction of the PA led by Mahmoud Abbas, the “leader” of the PA.

Mtour claimed that the delegation was an attempt to bypass the official PA in Ramallah- the very people who killed the 2017 meeting in Nablus.  The protesters managed to scare away some Palestinian attendees, and Mtour said it shameful that anyone met with the US delegation.  Salaymeh accused the participants of “normalizing” Israel and the United States.

It becomes obvious, that the PA is a disorganized joke of what passes as a government.  They have no reasoned strategy regarding the US administration beyond hatred and a lust for American aid.  This confusion, their conflicting messages, and their actions indicate they have no real vision for the Palestinian people other than continued martyrdom.  As such, can they be trusted to rule over their own state? The answer is obvious.

The rhetoric and actions by the Palestinians will only strengthen the resolve of the Trump administration and those who can think clearly by showing that the Palestinians are untrustworthy when it comes to the peace process with Israel.  Abbas and the rest of the PA want it both ways. They want to continue to fan the flames of anti-American sentiments and continue to view Israel as an occupying state of a country that never existed. Meanwhile, they want to be bankrolled by US taxpayer money.

These are a people unworthy of their own state leaving aside where they want to place their capital- a sideshow in the entire morass.  They are probably better off in a refugee camp in Jordan where they do not directly receive US aid than having their own state propped up by the US, the UN and the European Union.

Middle East peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis is a complicated matter with many issues to be resolved.  It has eluded many presidents and officials in the past and likely will not be resolved any time soon. It is obvious that despite various Israeli governments- some hard line and some moderate- it is the Palestinians who have thwarted any progress.  These are a people unworthy of their own country near  Israel, or anywhere in the world.

They are about to learn a hard lesson in geopolitics when that US money, provided by US taxpayers, no longer flows into their coffers.  When you piss in the well, the water you drink is indeed bitter.

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