Only a few years ago, Israelis were concerned about the question of
how they could continue to grow their first world economy with a growing
population in a country where there simply wasn’t enough water. What
followed was a major investment in technology and enactment of sensible
policies about water use that led to this startling fact. As the Times
states, “More than 50 percent of the water for Israeli households,
agriculture and industry is now artificially produced.” Though water is
expensive, the prospect that the country will run out is gone. In a
region that is in desperate need of Israel’s expertise, you would think
this development would lead to better relations with the Palestinians
and the Arab world. But what is missing from the Times’ story
is the fact that there is little sign of any interest in cooperation on
the part of Israel’s antagonists. As much as they ought to take
advantage of the Jewish state’s advances, such concerns are always
secondary to their main priority: fighting Israel.
The story of how Israel revolutionized its production and use of
water is another proud chapter in the country’s history. In the past
couple of decades as attacks on Israel’s legitimacy have multiplied, we
haven’t heard much about Jews making the desert bloom. That old line
about the rebirth of this old land under the care of a returned people
has been treated as an outdated cliché by biased journalists who
preferred story lines that reinforced the libels about Israel being an
apartheid state. That theme was also part of the narrative about water.
To the extent that water has been mentioned much in the news, it
generally served as another point of attack as Palestinian claims that
Israel was “stealing” their water in the West Bank was often reported as
fact rather than a political talking point. As even the Times notes in
its feature, Israel continues to supply the Palestinians with more water
than it is required to do under the Oslo Accords. Israel shares the
mountain aquifer that runs through the West Bank with the Palestinians.
But the Palestinians position is that they are entitled to all of it,
not just their share.
The underlying problem of that discussion has
always been the assumption that all of the territory is “Palestinian
land’ to which Israel has no legitimate claim. But even if you think
Israel ought to cede much of that territory if the Palestinians are ever
willing to make peace, the problem with this argument is that the Arabs
still don’t recognize Israeli rights to any water except the sea into
which they have been trying to push the Jews ever since they began
returning to their ancient homeland.
It might make sense for Israelis and Arabs to cooperate about water.
But if water remains an issue that exacerbates the conflict rather than
solving it, it’s not because the Israelis aren’t willing to share their
expertise or even some of the water they are desalinizing or treating
for further use. It’s because water, like economic development, has
always been beside the point to Palestinians and other Arabs and
Muslims.
If they had built an economy, they wouldn't have to schnorr
When Hamas and Fatah made their 'unity government,' they didn't bother to ask anyone's permission. After all, they consider themselves 'sovereigns' (when they're not kvetching about being 'occupied'). There's just one small problem: Over the past 20 years, the 'Palestinians' have done nothing - zip - zero to build an economy. Now, they're whining that they're going broke. It seems that you can't keep slapping someone in the face and then come to them to schnorr. The US and even the Arab countries have said enough is enough. No more money for a 'unity government.'
The Palestinian Authority "unity government" with Hamas is totally
bankrupt, according to a leading PA minister, who blamed broken promises
by America and Arab states for the dire situation.
"The government's budget is below zero, and it's starting to borrow
from banks to move forward, because only less than third of donor funds
that were scheduled to be received this year arrived," said Shawki
Al-Ayasa, Minister of Social Affairs, Agriculture, and Prisoner's
Affairs.
"The US has not provided a single penny since Jan. 1, and Europe and
Arab states only provided a third of what they were scheduled to give,"
he lamented to the Bethlehem-based Ma'an news network.
He said Gazan families who had lost their homes as Hamas and other
terrorist groups clashed with Israeli forces had received just 300
shekels ($84) in aid.
Boo Hoo. Let Hamas earn the money to pay for reconstruction. If they stopped using all their money for rockets and terror tunnels, they might even have money to pay for it.
The cost of PA corruption is monumental. More than anything else, it
makes Palestinian political and economic progress all but impossible.
The poor quality of governance and the resulting lack of political
inclusiveness and economic opportunities in the Palestinian territories
are a surefire model for the kind of economic and political repression
that typifies underperforming societies. You will not find a single
example of a people governed by such a regime that has achieved
long-term success. The inevitable result is social stagnation and the
kind of discontent that can lead to violence and even war.
In one of my favorite examples of how Palestinian governance is
subservient to political power, the PA still pays its Gaza-based
employees even though they are unable to perform their duties due to the
Hamas takeover. In other words, the PA—using donor funds—is paying
people not to work. There is only one reason for this: It allows PA
President Mahmoud Abbas to maintain his political base in Gaza.
Perhaps more infuriating, however, is the fact that an enormous
amount of PA money—foreign and domestic—goes to line the pockets of the
Palestinian political elite. About two years ago, Hasan Khreishah, the
deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, spoke out on the
issue. “Since the signing of the Oslo Accords,” he said, “we have had 12
Palestinian governments…. Each government [has]… at least 24 ministers.
This means we have had 228 ministers, in addition to advisors. All
receive high salaries and luxurious vehicles.” He went on to point out
that the aforementioned PIF pays its chairman $35,000 per month, which
is over 12 times the West Bank’s per capita gross domestic product in
2008—the most recent data available.
This is, unfortunately, the PA’s standard operating procedure. An EU audit of the years 2008-2012 found that around 2 billion
Euros of its aid were lost to corruption. It has also been shown that
Yasser Arafat and his advisors stole millions of dollars in foreign
donations, turning them into billions as they moved the money around the
world. According to several reports, this practice has continued—and
may have gotten worse—under Abbas. And with the Palestinians’ acceptance
into the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, the PA will now
have a shield with which to protect itself from any real reform.
Many supporters of the PA tend to look for ways to explain away these
problems. They have composed a popular narrative in which, despite the
PA’s corruption—or perhaps regardless of it—the Palestinians’ problems
are primarily Israel’s fault. Economic and political development in the
Palestinian territories, it is claimed, can only move forward if Israel
withdraws from the West Bank, voids its security requirements for border
movement, and allows the free flow of people and goods.
I have witnessed something different. I have observed the West Bank
economy and labor market from within, and have come to understand that
the best opportunities for Palestinians are abroad. Not only do foreign
markets offer larger consumer bases and greater profits for exporters,
but most importantly they do not suffer from the corruption experienced
under the Palestinian Authority that stifles prosperity well beyond any
other factor. Even within the West Bank economy, many of the best
opportunities come from Israeli and foreign assistance.
Given that the highest profit margins for Palestinian goods are found
outside the territories, such assistance is essential. And given that
Israel is the Palestinians’ main point of access to foreign markets, its
help is equally important. Even though many opportunities for economic
development are initiated by aid agencies and NGOs from the West and
Asia—such as the project Sammy Khalidi participated in—they not only
require Israel’s help, but also benefit from direct Israeli
participation that mostly goes unreported. This is partly because
Israel’s assistance can be politically unpopular domestically, but it
also because, as in Sammy’s case, it does not fit the narrative people
are comfortable with.
As you might have figured out from the cartoon above, I am not convinced that the 'Palestinians' would make peace with Israel even if they had an economy. But what it would lead it is something far more dangerous from the 'Palestinian' elite's perspective: contentment with the status quo, a lessening of the desire for a 'Palestinian state' now, and most importantly, a dissipation of the desire to extirpate the Jewish state. Aside from pure greed, those are the motivations behind the continuing corruption in the 'Palestinian Authority' and the acceptance of that corruption by the overwhelming majority of the elites in the international community who turn a blind eye to it.
Hamas is suffering from its worst cash crisis since taking over Gaza (Hat Tip: Shy Guy).
Hamas government employees have
complained publicly about getting only partial salaries for the past
four months. Bus drivers have staged a strike over soaring fuel prices.
Laborers have lost jobs as construction has dried up. Hamas' own surveys
show its popularity plummeting.
"I
never experienced a situation worse than this one," said Ahmed
Zeitouniya, 32, who has been walking to his job in the Culture Ministry
because he can no longer afford $1 in bus fares and is in debt to the
neighborhood grocery and his oldest son's kindergarten.
Gaza's isolation is unlikely to ease soon. Instead, Israel and Egypt have tightened their border closures.
Israel
sealed its only cargo crossing with Gaza on Wednesday after the Islamic
Jihad group fired dozens of rockets from the territory at Israel. Hamas
seems to tolerate occasional Islamic Jihad attacks on Israel as a
release valve for the public's discontent. However, Hamas has largely
observed a truce with Israel since heavy fighting 2012 and does not seem
interested in further escalation.
The
game changer for Hamas was the Egyptian military's ouster last July of
then-President Mohammed Morsi. The military-backed government in Cairo
has since banned Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood — the region-wide movement
that also spawned Hamas — and has shut down most of the smuggling
tunnels along the Gaza border, which were an economic lifeline for the
strip.
The Hamas government lost nearly
two-thirds of its revenue as a result, said Omar Shaban, a Gaza
economist. With the tunnels, Hamas earned about $500 million a year — of
an annual budget of just under $900 million — in taxes on the Egyptian
imports, said Shaban.
Cheap
fuel, cement and other supplies from Egypt also powered Gaza's economy,
particularly the local construction industry which employed several tens
of thousands.
Israel Electric: The 'Palestinian Authority' is too big to fail
The 'Palestinian Authority' owes the State-owned Israel Electric Corporation a whopping NIS 1.4 billion (about $400 million at today's rates), which you and I and everyone else who pays an electric bill in Israel are covering. But the 'Palestinian Authority' - unlike Mrs. Cohen who can't pay her bill - isn't worried about its electricity being cut off. That's because Israel Electric Corporation has apparently decided that the 'Palestinian Authority' is too big to fail, and is therefore being offered better rates and more credit.
"The electric company hasn't threatened to cut off the PA from electric supply," said the senior official to Arabic news source Ma'an.
According to the official, the IEC offered the PA was to sign a new
agreement by which it would be given the status of a country, with an
accompanying reduced rate.
IEC Director Yiftah Ron-Tal on Tuesday spoke in the Knesset’s Finance
Committee, where he said that if IEC were privately owned, it would
have cut off the PA long ago.
"Despite the immense financial debt that we have accumulated, we are
obligated to continue to provide electricity to the PA. The State of
Israel owns our company and it has to make a decision on the matter. We
must collect this debt,” Ron-Tal added, noting that the PA has ignored
repeated requests to pay its debts.
The PA acquires 95% of its electricity in Judea and Samaria and 75% of its electricity in Gaza from Israel.
In response to Ron-Tal's appeals, Finance Committee head MK Nissan
Slomiansky (Jewish Home) said, "if the state does not assist the IEC in
collecting the debt from the PA, the Finance Committee will consider an
appeal to the High Court, so that [the court] obligates the state to
address the problem."
I don't know whether to laugh or to cry. Why would anyone think that the 'Supreme Court' - which is made up of Leftists - would issue such an order? Who would obey it? And even with the best of intentions, what makes anyone think that the government of Israel could collect a debt from the 'Palestinian Authority'?
Making the idea that the PA will come clean on its debts less likely
is the fact that it is in the midst of a financial crisis; as of last
July the entity owed $4.2 billion in internal and external debts.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas signed a $1 billion energy deal
in Russia during January. Russian state news agency ITAR-TASS reported
that Russia's natural gas giant Gazprom intends to produce 30 billion
cubic meters of natural gas off the Gaza coast, in addition to talk of
an oil development project near Ramallah.
The only way to collect this debt is (a) to cut off the electricity until it is paid (unlikely because the 'international community' would go ballistic) and (b) to withhold the transfer payments that the government of Israel makes to the 'Palestinian Authority' (unlikely because the 'international community' would go ballistic).
'Moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud AbbasAbu Mazen is once again blaming the Joooz for the fact that he and his predecessor chose to invest all their money in terrorism instead of economic development.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has blamed the "Israeli
occupation" for the dire economic situation in the West Bank,
Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported.
"The economic situation is really difficult, and the main reason is the Israeli occupation," Abbas told official PA television.
"Israel exploits our resources and lands which increased our economic deficit," he continued.
The
PA president also expressed concern that the Palestinian Authority
would be unable to pay salaries for its employees in November as a
result of the difficult economic situation.
Now where have I heard that before? Maybe if he stopped paying terrorists 6% of his budget, he could at least pay more of his real employees....
On Tuesday, the World Bank issued a report
that said that the Palestinian Gross Domestic Product in the West Bank
could increase by at least 35 percent, $3.4 billion annually, if Israel
lifted its restrictions on Palestinian access and movement in Area C.
“Access
to Area C will go a long way to solving Palestinian economic problems,”
said Mariam Sherman, the outgoing World Bank Country Director for the
Palestinian territories.
“The alternative is bleak. Without the
ability to utilize the potential of Area C, the economic space will
remain fragmented and stunted. Lifting multiple restrictions could
transform the economy and substantially improve prospects for sustained
growth,” she said.
Of course, that assumes that Israel will leave Area C and leave $3.4 billion in annual revenues of industry behind. And it also assumes that the 'Palestinians' will do a better job than they did with those greenhouses in Gaza....
Two 'Israeli Arabs' who had planned to open a branch of Israel's Fox clothing in Ramallah have backed out of the venture out of fear for their lives. As a result, another 150 'Palestinians' will remain jobless.
Although the owners had obtained permission from
the PA Ministry of Economy to open the clothing store, Palestinian
activists and journalists launched a campaign against the opening of a
clothing store in Ramallah.
The activists and journalists said
that the opening of an Israeli clothing store in a Palestinian city was a
form of “normalization” with Israel.
One of the leaders of the
campaign, Fadi Arouri, a photojournalist with China’s Xinhua News
Agency, told Wattan TV that the opening of a Fox store in Ramallah was a
“stain of disgrace.”
Arouri has also led campaigns aimed at preventing Israeli journalists from working in PA-controlled territories.
Earlier
this week, a group of Palestinian activists demonstrated in the center
of Ramallah in protest against the intention to open a Fox store in the
city. The activists called on the Palestinian Authority to ban Israeli
firms from opening businesses in Palestinian cities.
Following the
protests, the two businessmen decided this week to cancel the project,
although renovation work at the new clothing store had reached an
advanced stage.
A Palestinian businessman in Ramallah expressed
sorrow over the decision not to open the Fox store, saying this was a
blow to the Palestinian economy.
“Many people could have profited from this project,” the businessman told the Post. “It’s sad when thugs and extortionists succeed in preventing any economic project.”
Yes, it is. And it's why the 'Palestinian' economy continues to stagnate in a catatonic stupor, while all around it the Israeli economy is booming. And then they're jealous....
Gas stations shut off pumps for 'Palestinian' security
This is rich. Gas stations across Judea and Samaria are no longer accepting 'Palestinian Authority' vouchers to fill the tanks of 'Palestinian security' vehicles. It seems that the 'Palestinian Authority' hasn't paid its bills in months, and the gas stations have decided that enough is enough.
The PA Finance Ministry has not reimbursed fuel vouchers for five
months, and on Tuesday a network of fuel distributors announced it would
stop letting the security forces fill up for free.
They say the security services will be able to fill up their tanks until Thursday, after which they will be refused.
Ma'an
has learned that the Finance Ministry only started paying January's
fuel vouchers on Sunday. On Tuesday, they were expected to pay
February's bills.
But the owners of gas stations say they will
not let them take fuel after Thursday if the ministry does not pay all
its debts by then.
A Finance Ministry spokesman declined to comment.
Hey morons - stop paying the terrorists and start paying your bills!
'Palestinian Authority' says they're $4.2 billion in debt
New 'Palestinian' 'Prime Minister' Rami Hamdallah has no experience in government or politics, and he's starting out facing a 'more than difficult' financial crisis caused by skyrocketing debt.
Mustafa, who was speaking to reporters in
Ramallah following the new PA government’s first weekly meeting, said that the
PA’s local debts were estimated at $1.2 billion - $600 million to banks and $480
million to the Palestinian Petroleum Authority.
Mustafa serves as deputy
prime minister for economic affairs – a job that makes him the de facto finance
minister.
Until his appointment last week, Mustafa served as director of
the PLO’s Palestine Investment Fund.
The PA’s external debts, he said,
have reached $1 billion. Failure to pay this debt has resulted in fines
estimated at $100 million, Mustafa added.
The PA also owes another $1
billion to the Palestinian Pension Fund, he said.
He said that the PA was
in need of financial aid to pay salaries to its employees in the coming
months.
The PA will have to increase tax collection, cut expenses and
seek additional funding from donor countries, Mustafa said.
There are some obvious ways for the 'Palestinian Authority' to cut expenses. One is to stop paying salaries to terrorists and their families, including to those who belong to Hamas. That would cut 6% of the budget right there. Then if they laid off some of their ubiquitous 'security services' and consolidated the rest like they were supposed to do years ago, that would cut the budget more. Of course, to do that without leaving people to starve, they'd have to develop an economy, and the 'Palestinians' have done nothing on that front in the nearly 20 years since Oslo.
Here's former Israeli Consul General Yoram Ettinger talking about that $4 billion that US Secretary of State John FN Kerry wants to provide to the 'Palestinians.' He asks some really good questions that ought to concern both Israelis and Americans.
For there to be peace, the 'Palestinians' would have to get real
David Horovitz argues that the path to peace between Israel and the 'Palestinians' doesn't require a $4billion injection for the 'Palestinian' economy. It requires that the 'Palestinians' become realistic about their demands.
As the businesspeople who fashioned “Breaking
the Impasse” correctly recognized, the path to an accord requires
compromise and pragmatism by the politicians. It requires a Palestinian
leader like the English-speaking Abbas, who told Channel 2 last year
that there would be no third intifada under his leadership, that he had
no demands on pre-1967 Israel, and that he felt he had no “right” to
return to live in Safed, the town of his birth in today’s northern
Israel. It does not require a Palestinian leader like the
Arabic-speaking Abbas, who went to the UN last November seeking
statehood without the inconvenience of negotiating modalities with
Israel, told the watching world Israel was born in fundamental sin
through ethnic cleansing, and who, at the Dead Sea on Sunday, delivered a
speech made all the more unpalatable and extreme by the plaintive call
for peace from the business community that preceded it.
In the Abbas account of the conflict as
detailed on Sunday, Israel’s refusal to simply up and leave from the
West Bank is plain incomprehensible. After all, he argued, the
Palestinians have never and would never harm so much as a hair on an
Israeli’s head.
Why on earth, he wondered — this picture of
bafflement, this elderly, well-intentioned gentleman, rendered impotent
by the stupidity of those aggressors on the other side of that
inexplicably constructed wall — would Israelis be wary of what might
happen were they to pull out of the West Bank? What harm might possibly
befall them? The Second Intifada? Obviously a figment of Israel’s
imagination. The no-nonsense ousting of Abbas from Gaza by Hamas, with
its acutely worrying implications for a post-IDF West Bank? Presumably,
never happened.
Israel in 1999 threw out Netanyahu because it
believed there was a peace deal to be made with Arafat, and that the
intransigent prime minister was missing the chance. There was no such
sentiment when Israelis voted four months ago — no sense that
opportunities for peace were going begging because of obdurate,
settlement-building Netanyahu. Arafat shattered Israelis’ confidence in
their Palestinian negotiating partners. Abbas has signally failed to
restore it. And the collapse of stability in the Middle East is working
against all those who seek to heal the rift.
Absurd rhetoric about billions in private
investment is not going to change any of that. What it does, however, is
make a fool of the secretary of state who utters it, and makes plain
that salvation from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, rarely more
elusive than today, is not going to come from Washington, DC.
It is time that we become realistic. Peace is not going to happen. The 'Palestinians' goal is not to have 'two states living side by side together in peace and security,' it's for 'Palestine' to replace the Jewish state. It is time for us to recognize that goal and to move on.
Kerry's solution to world and US economic problems: Throw another $4 billion down the 'Palestinian' stinkhole
If all the money the Obama administration threw at unrealistic energy projects is called green slush, can we call this brown mud?
US Secretary of State John FN Kerry has now declared himself an economist. He has decided that the solution to the world's, the United States' and especially to Jordan's and Israel's (ironically, Israel has a stronger economy right now than either the US or Europe) economic problems is to throw another $4 billion down the 'Palestinian' stinkhole.
“The plan for the Palestinian economy is bigger and bolder and
more ambitious than anything proposed since Oslo more than 20 years ago,” said
Kerry as he spoke at the closing session of the World Economic Forum by the Dead
Sea in Jordan.
President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas also addressed the final session and sat next to each other in the
first row of the large auditorium as Kerry spoke.
This economic plan is
achievable and has the support of Abbas and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu,
Kerry said.
Quartet special envoy Tony Blair will head the initiative,
with the help of the international business community.
According to
Kerry, it will focus on developing the Palestinian private economy, a key
ingredient for economic independence.
If actualized, he said, it could
increase the Palestinian GDP by 50 percent over three years and cut unemployment
by two-thirds, to 8% down from 21%. It would also benefit the economies of
Israel and Jordan, Kerry said.
The effects could echo throughout the
region and could be used as an international model for applying investment to
make change, he said.
Investment in business, as well as in peace, could
totally change life on the ground for this area, Kerry said.
“This will
help build the future. Is this a fantasy? I do not think so,” he
said.
World Bank doing what 'Palestinian Authority' should do
Only the 'Palestinians' get these kinds of individualized benefits from the 'international community.' Since the 'Palestinian Authority' is too busy spending its budget on salaries for imprisoned terrorists, the World Bank is going to step in and do what every other government in the world does, or is supposed to do: The World Bank is creating real jobs for 'Palestinians.'
The World Bank wants to help provide 55,000 new part-time job opportunities over
the next five years for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza through an
emerging online phenomenon called microwork.
The sophisticated web-based
assembly lines allow people anywhere in the world to work from home for global
companies by completing micro tasks on the Internet.
The World Bank plans
to hold a microwork pilot study in the Palestinian territories, but no exact
date has been set.
“Palestinian youth are increasingly tech-savvy, so the
potential for IT-based forms of economic engagement, which can cross virtual
borders, can be an exciting leap forward,” said Mariam Sherman, the World Bank
country director for the West Bank and Gaza.
On Wednesday the bank
publicly released a feasibility study, “Microwork for the Palestinian
Territories,” that explored the pros and cons of such global
outsourcing.
It explained that microwork provides mass employment for
people in developing countries, particularly young people and women.
The
jobs can be done anywhere at anytime by people with computers or smart phones,
according to the report.
“Microwork’s unique value proposition is that it
can be performed anywhere at any time across geographical boundaries, using
commonly available computers and Internet connections,” said Siou Chew Kuek, ICT
policy specialist at the World Bank.
“It is particularly relevant to the
Palestinian territories, as it enables local youth and women to access jobs in
the global knowledge economy.”
Microwork by day and terrorists by night (or vice versa). Maybe they can even provide jobs for terrorists in Israeli prisons so that they can increase their income beyond their 'Palestinian Authority' salaries.
Erekat attacks Obama for wanting to pursue 'lasting peace' between Israel and 'Palestinians'
In an interview with the 'Voice of Palestine,' 'Palestinian' chief negotiatorbottle washer Saeb Erekat lashed out at President Obama on Wednesday for Obama's pledge in his State of the Union address to seek 'lasting peace' between Israel and the 'Palestinians.'
In stead of embracing Obama’s wish to establish a lasting peace, Arekat attacked the US President and said his words were rhetoric.
He also said that there is a horrible defectin
Arab-US ties. The PLO leader stated that if Obama wants his visit to
the Middle East to be a success ‘his assignment should include meeting
the requirements of peace including a halt of settlement actions, the
release of detainees and that Netanyahu accepts the two-state solution
on the pre-1967 border’.
But don't think Obama will learn anything by being smacked down yet again. The US has pledged that it will pony up $700 million in aid money for the 'poor Palestinians.'
A source in the PA said the US consul general Michael Ratney
reaffirmed his country’s desire to help the PA overcome its financial
crisis through resuming financial support before President Obama’s visit
to the region next month.
The same source said the US consul also said his country would
pressure Arab and donor countries to commit to their obligations towards
the PA and not to allow it to collapse. Palestinian sources say the US
State Department is working to convince Congress to approve the release
of around $700 million in aid to the Palestinians for last and this year
including $200 million in direct support to the budget. (source: Al Quds)
Poor Hussein Obama can't even get the 'Palestinians' to accept his gifts. Look for him to up the ante. What could go wrong?
In the recent interview Mr. Fayyad put most of the blame for the
authority’s financial distress on Arab donors who are “not fulfilling
their pledge of support” made in Arab League resolutions to make up the
money Israel is withholding. This should come as little surprise. Arab
leaders have often promised political and economic support for the
Palestinians and failed to deliver. Arab foreign ministers are expected
to meet Sunday in Cairo to discuss Palestinian issues, including the
promised aid. They should affirm their commitment to assist the
Palestinian Authority and get the funds flowing.
And if the Arab world cared as much about the Palestinian as the New
York Times purports to, maybe those foreign ministers would commit to
meeting their pledges. But this is a longstanding issue as this article from 2008 shows, I hardly think that a New York Times editorial will change the situation.
While it's a positive development that the New York Times faulted the
Arab world (however futilely), unfortunately, there were five other
paragraphs to the editorial.
The Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank not
under Israeli control, is in financial crisis. Its leaders are finding
it increasingly difficult to pay 180,000 government employees, including
security forces as well as other civil servants.
This is not a problem that can be swept under the rug. Whatever the
criticisms of the Palestinian Authority, and there are many, Israel has
increasingly depended on it to manage and keep the peace in a
strategically critical swath of territory. If there is ever to be a
peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, there has to be a
competent government to run a Palestinian state and leaders with whom to
make a deal.
These two paragraphs were an unfortunate beginning. The financial crisis
in 2008 was described in much the same manner. The Palestinian
Authority (PA) still exists. The bigger problem is simply stating that
"there are many problems" with the PA, without detailing them. For
example as the New York Times and the Washington Post
both reported earlier this week, the PA is reaching out to Hamas again.
True, talks like these have been occurring off and on for years now
with no results so far. One of the premises of the peace process was
that the PLO would reject terrorism. Yet, here is the leader of the
PA/PLO in talks with the unrepentant terrorists of Hamas. Is that
someone Israel can depend on to "keep the peace?"
Talking with Hamas is just one way that Abbas is showing his extremism. There areothers.
In addition, as the New York Times (cited above) reported he's
beginning the ninth year of a four year term in office. He has used his
office to enrich himself and his family. In addition he is becoming increasingly autocratic. In no other circumstance would the New York Times advocate for the continued rule of such a thug.
While a competent Palestinian government would be a boon to Israel,
doesn't this whole story show that the current leaders are not exactly
paragons of competence? The PA has had nearly 20 years of governing
experience and yet it is still dependent on outside donations to
function!
Of course, no New York Times editorial about the Middle East would be
complete without some explicit criticism of Israel, so the third
paragraph does not disapppoint.
There are many causes. After Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian
president, won an upgrade for the status of Palestine as a nonmember
observer state at the United Nations General Assembly last fall, Israel
retaliated by withholding the $100 million in monthly tax revenues it
collects on behalf of the Palestinians. Congress, meanwhile, has been
withholding more than $450 million in American aid. Last year, Mr.
Fayyad said he hoped to improve the authority’s financial condition by
cutting spending and raising taxes on wealthier Palestinians. The tax
plan ran into strong protest and the West Bank’s modest economic growth
has slowed.
Going to the UN was a violation of the term of the peace process, which
was to be conducted bilaterally. By going to the UN Abbas sought to use
international pressure for Israeli concessions so he could just pocket
them without compromise. However even without the tax revenues, Israel
provides a lot of unpublicized aid
to the Palestinians. The editorial would have done well to emphasize
Abbas's culpability in the crisis as well as Israel's efforts.
Finally, we skip to the end:
There are many threats to a two-state solution, including an Israeli
government that could become even more hard-line after the Jan. 22
election. But, as the World Bank has said, Mr. Fayyad has made progress
in building a functioning government. Israel, the Palestinians, Arab
states and the international community all have a stake in making sure
that is preserved and strengthened.
However "hard-line" the Israeli government becomes really is irrelevant
as long as Abbas continues to violate the letter and spirit of previous
agreements. (David Weinberg points out why "hard-line" is a bad description of the Israeli government.)
The main takeaway from the article is that everyone except the Palestinians is culpable for their financial crisis.
Nearly two years ago, Thomas Friedman wrote a column, Postcard from Cairo, Part 2. The column made some news reports because of this paragraph:
Rather than even listening to what the democracy youth in Tahrir
Square were saying and then trying to digest what it meant, this Israeli
government took two approaches during the last three weeks: Frantically
calling the White House and telling the president he must not abandon
Pharaoh – to the point where the White House was thoroughly disgusted
with its Israeli interlocutors – and using the opportunity to score
propaganda points: “Look at us! Look at us! We told you so! We are the
only stable country in the region, because we are the only democracy.’’
I have no idea if this story is true. If it is true, I think it's more
likely that Israel warned the White House that they may not like the
alternatives to Mubarak and not as Friedman (or his interlocutors in the
administration) presented it. The accuracy of the incident was less
important to Friedman than to use it to illustrate that Israel doesn't
much care about the fate of its neighbors.
In the last days of November, Israel’s top military commanders called
the Pentagon to discuss troubling intelligence that was showing up on
satellite imagery: Syrian troops appeared to be mixing chemicals at two
storage sites, probably the deadly nerve gas sarin, and filling dozens
of 500-pounds bombs that could be loaded on airplanes.
Within hours President Obama was notified, and the alarm grew over the
weekend, as the munitions were loaded onto vehicles near Syrian air
bases. In briefings, administration officials were told that if Syria’s
increasingly desperate president, Bashar al-Assad, ordered the weapons
to be used, they could be airborne in less than two hours — too fast for
the United States to act, in all likelihood. In recent weeks Netanyahu has spoken on a number of occasions about
the close cooperation on the matter that exists between Israel, the US,
and "other countries" on the matter.
What followed next, officials said, was a remarkable show of
international cooperation over a civil war in which the United States,
Arab states, Russia and China have almost never agreed on a common
course of action.
A follow up article in the Jerusalem Post has Netanyahu claiming to be at the center of international efforts to prevent the use of chemical weapons in Syria:
In mid-December the Prime Minister's office issued a statement
following a meeting with Texas senator-elect Ted Cruz, underlining the
chemical weapons issue. Netanyahu, according to the statement, told Cruz, "We're monitoring
very closely the possibility of the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
President Obama has spoken forcefully about this. Israel and the United
States have close consultations about this issue and it highlights the
dangers of these regimes receiving such weapons, and that these weapons
can even go from there to terrorist organizations. This is a threat to
Israel, a threat to America, a threat to others in this region. We treat
it accordingly."
Towards the end of Friedman's column he summed up his assessment of the "Arab spring":
Well, that’s what happened here. The ferocity and popularity of
Mubarak’s ouster should have told Israelis that they need to get to work
immediately on building a relationship with the dynamic new popular
trend here, not to be trying to cling to a dictator who was totally out
of touch with his people. And, as we sit here today, the popular trend
is not with the Muslim Brotherhood. Indeed, what makes the uprising here
so impressive – and in that sense so dangerous to other autocracies in
the region – is precisely the fact that it is not owned by, and was not
inspired by, the Muslim Brotherhood.
It is so much more powerful than that. As I said, it is being propelled
by the most basic, universal human emotions – a quest for freedom,
dignity and justice. That is what the other Arab autocracies – and Iran –
fear. It is not about anything narrow, like the Muslim Brotherhood,
Hamas, America or Palestine. It cannot easily be pigeon-holed and
delegitimized. Most of all, it is not about some populist upsurge that
craves restarting the war with Israel. It is all about a people who
crave the chance to restart their own future, their own lives.
Note the confidence with which he assured us that the Egyptian
revolution wasn't about the Muslim Brotherhood. When he turned out to
have been wrong on that count, what did he do? Why he cheered on the coming oppression!
Despite Friedman's nastiness, the truth is that Israel has demonstrated
concern for oppressed Arabs. It was Friedman who was and is lacking in
compassion.
Being 'Palestinian' means living permanently on international welfare
I know I should not be amazed by this, but it's so blatant it's hard not to be amazed. The New York Times publishes yet another editorial crying over the horrific state of the 'Palestinian' economy without once stopping to think why the 'Palestinian people' are still entirely dependent on international welfare nearly 20 years after the signing of the Oslo Accords, and have made precisely zero progress in developing an economy of their own. In fact, they were better off under the 'Israeli occupation,' but don't tell the Times that.
There are many causes. After Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president,
won an upgrade for the status of Palestine as a nonmember observer state
at the United Nations General Assembly last fall,
Israel retaliated by withholding the $100 million in monthly tax
revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinians. Congress, meanwhile,
has been withholding more than $450 million in American aid. Last year,
Mr. Fayyad said he hoped to improve the authority’s financial condition
by cutting spending and raising taxes on wealthier Palestinians. The
tax plan ran into strong protest and the West Bank’s modest economic
growth has slowed.
In the recent interview Mr. Fayyad put most of the blame for the
authority’s financial distress on Arab donors who are “not fulfilling
their pledge of support” made in Arab League resolutions to make up the
money Israel is withholding. This should come as little surprise. Arab
leaders have often promised political and economic support for the
Palestinians and failed to deliver. Arab foreign ministers are expected
to meet Sunday in Cairo to discuss Palestinian issues, including the
promised aid. They should affirm their commitment to assist the
Palestinian Authority and get the funds flowing.
Note that the Times is happy to blame the Arab states for not ponying up enough money, and Israel for existing. But it won't blame the 'Palestinian Authority's failure to make any effort at economic development for the fact that after 19 years, the 'Palestinian Authority' is still living hand to mouth.
Perhaps this is the place to retell a story I have told several times, but not in the past couple of years. A number of years ago (probably late '90's or early '00's), I attended a lecture under the auspices of the Columbia Alumni Club in Israel. The lecturer was Natan Sharansky,
who was Minister of Industry and Trade from 1996-1999 under Binyamin
Netanyahu. Sharansky said that every time Israel attempted to discuss
economic relations with the 'Palestinians,' they would tune out. All
that interested them was how much land they were going to get under any
eventual arrangement.
That's not building a state from the ground up. Abu Mazen and Fayyad are failures. Too bad the Western media is scapegoating everyone else rather than placing the blame where it belongs.
Israel gives 'Palestinians' NIS 200 million reward for UN gambit
The government of Israel has decided to give the 'Palestinian Authority' a NIS 200 million reward for their UN gambit by transferring that amount of 'tax money' to the 'Palestinian Authority' just two days before the UN vote. Of course, as usual, much of that money will go to pay the salaries of the PA's 'employees' in Gaza (you know, the ones who bragged that they shot 516 rockets at Israel last week), to pay Hamas, and to pay the 'salaries' of 'Palestinian' terrorists in Israeli jails.
The transfer of the money, 200 million shekels, took place just two
days before the vote in the United Nations General Assembly on the PA’s
unilateral bid to become a non-member observer state.
Army Radio noted that Israel has said it would not take
extreme steps in response to the PA’s statehood bid but has continued to
threaten to freeze the funds it transfers to the PA each month. Despite
this threat, however, and despite PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s
statements that he does not intend to back down from the move, Israel
transferred the funds on Tuesday.
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, who has also threatened the PA with sanctions if it goes ahead with its bid, told Army Radio on Wednesday that Israel would respond to the move at the correct time and place.
“If the Palestinian Authority thinks it will attack us in the UN in
such a harsh way and will continue to benefit from the cooperation with
us, I think that some surprises await it,” said Steinitz.
If only our politicians had the courage of their convictions....
'Poor Palestinians' have more money invested abroad than foreign money invested in 'Palestine'
The 'poor Palestinians' have more money invested abroad than there is foreign money invested in 'Palestine' (Hat Tip: IMRA).
Stocks of Palestinian
assets invested abroad in 2011 were about $5,233 million, while stocks
of foreign liabilities on the Palestinian economy were about $4,512
million, a Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) report said on Wednesday.
PCBS and the Palestine
Monetary Authority (PMA) said in a joint press release on International
Investment Position (IIP) and External Debt statistics that primary
results of IIP for the Palestinian Territory by the end of 2011 revealed
that the net IIP had amounted to about $721.0 million, which means that
the Palestinian economy of its various sectors had invested outside
Palestinian Territory by more than the investment amount in the
Palestinian Territory from abroad.
The cash deposits of
local banks in foreign banks and foreign exchange in the Palestinian
economy had contributed majorly in the external assets, representing
63.6% of their total value, said the release.
The total stocks of
external assets for the Palestinian Territory (stocks of residents in
the Palestinian Territory invested abroad) had amounted to $5,233
million; foreign direct investment abroad contributed to 3.7%, portfolio
investments abroad reached 21.9%, while other foreign investments
abroad reached 64.9%, and reserve assets amounted to 9.5%.
And that doesn't even count Abu Mazen's Swiss bank accounts, let alone the accouatnts left over from Arafat....
But send them more money 'international community.' They're 'impoverished.'
Heh... Thousands of 'Palestinians' call for Fayyad to resign
Thousands of 'Palestinians' demonstrated in Hebron on Thursday night to call for the resignation of Salam Fayyad.
Thousands of Palestinians gathered at a central junction in the center of Hebron on Thursday evening to protest against spiraling economic hardships.
A group calling themselves "youth against high costs of living" insisted they would continue to rally until their demands are answered.
The protesters called for PA premier Salam Fayyad to stand down and for an end to the economic crisis.
The former IMF economist- turned prime minister said Thursday: "If there is a real public demand that I resign, and if it would solve the economic problems, then I would not hesitate to step down, nor would I delay it."
In other words, Fayyad is going nowhere because he is the least of the 'Palestinians' economic problems. Come to think of it, I can think of a way that they can cut 6% off their budget today.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
