Meanwhile, Back in Gaza, Pt. II

Money is a lever in international relations, but the U.S. appears unwilling to use it to induce civilized, or at least non-destructive behavior in the Palestinians. Because American funds are largely directed through NGOs to specific projects intended to meet otherwise unmet social needs, the administration won’t cut the cash.

Money is a lever in international relations, but the U.S. appears unwilling to use it to induce civilized, or at least non-destructive behavior in the Palestinians. Because American funds are largely directed through NGOs to specific projects intended to meet otherwise unmet social needs, the administration won’t cut the cash. But because the U.S., Israel and various NGOs and “humanitarians” fund assistance for the Palestinians, huge sums from the EU and money in the PA treasury are spent on military/terrorist activities – including massive spending on the uncontrolled multiple PA security forces, none of which appear willing or able to maintain security in Gaza.

The U.S. has tried to fix that. In February, Secretary Rice assigned Lt. Gen. William Ward, USA, “to provide a focal point for training, equipping, helping the Palestinians to build their security forces and also for monitoring, and if necessary, to help the parties on security matters.” But in a Sept. 21st appearance before a House Committee, Lt. Gen. Ward said Abu Mazen failed to implement the requirements for security reform, including a mandatory retirement age of 60 to reduce the nearly 60,000 registered members of PA security agencies and facilitate a drive to impose discipline.

The State Department had drafted a list of five priorities to help the Palestinians ensure internal security and border stability: drafting a formal Palestinian security doctrine to be supported by legislation; a PA force review; disarming Palestinian terrorist groups; reducing the security forces; and restructuring and equipping streamlined agencies. The PA has seriously addressed none of these tasks.

Lt. Gen. Ward told Congress that the PA has failed even to fulfill the requirements that would bring significant international financial and material assistance to the security forces. According to news reports, the PA refused to cooperate with Quartet efforts to determine the legitimate PA security force requirements for weapons, communications, vehicles and salaries. In response, donor nations have, for now, suspended plans to ship lethal weaponry to the PA. For now, we are properly grateful.

PA demands for other people’s money and insistence that its military/paramilitary forces be unregulated by those who would fund them point to a larger problem.

The U.S. and others presume that the Palestinians need “help” to become a democratic “country.” It never seems to occur to them that the PA doesn’t WANT to be a democratic country, or a country at all. The PA doesn’t need “help” to “dismantle the terrorist infrastructure.” It IS the terrorist infrastructure, allied with Hamas and PIJ to maintain a territorial platform for killing Jews and harassing Israel, knowing they can’t defeat it. Abu Mazen doesn’t want to be “strengthened,” Hamas doesn’t have to get rid of him because he provides a respectable “face” to the donors. The PA takes what we offer and declines to be anything other than what it actually is.

The U.S. government needs to rethink its paradigm for “Palestine” before more people get killed.