Why Charity?

President Bush appears to have decided that American money should flow directly to the Palestinian Authority and Abu Mazen, in contravention of Congress’s determination to funnel it through NGOs of which the US approves. Mr. Bush is trying, no doubt, to “strengthen” Abu Mazen in advance of elections.

President Bush appears to have decided that American money should flow directly to the Palestinian Authority and Abu Mazen, in contravention of Congress’s determination to funnel it through NGOs of which the US approves. Mr. Bush is trying, no doubt, to “strengthen” Abu Mazen in advance of elections.

We have several problems – not least that some NGOs do as much harm as good – but let us focus just on the nature of the funds. Charity – money taken from elsewhere and given to the PA to do what governments are supposed to do with money provided by their people through the taxation of legitimate enterprises. Charity – the continuation of a hand-to-mouth existence for the people while the “party” (Fatah) spends its money on rival security services, incitement to violence, teachers that teach anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism, and preachers who preach the same in PA-funded mosques.

Yesterday we mentioned James Wolfensohn’s comment about Palestinian financial management, but stopped before noting that he also linked Israeli security and Palestinian economic goals. “You cannot have security if you do not have hope for the Palestinians, and if you do have hope for the Palestinians, you have a lot better chance of security.” The implication is that Israeli citizens can’t expect security until someone makes the PA economically viable. Who? And why should Israel have to wait?

In the same vein, Dennis Ross called yesterday for “a Gulf Cooperation Council fund of $1 billion for Palestinian development… to finance housing projects that are labor-intensive and for which there are existing Palestinian blueprints and contractors; provide the $240 million the PA would like to spend on social programs to compete with Hamas; and underwrite the cost of the pensions Abbas needs to pay to those he has retired from the security organizations.” [Don’t ask why terrorists should be pensioned off like postal clerks; keep your eye on the ball here.]

Question for President Bush, Mssrs. Ross and Wolfensohn: why charity? Why not economic investment in the Palestinian areas? We know the answer.

As long as the PA can’t or won’t (doesn’t matter which) end its war against Israel and spend its resources building an economic infrastructure based on law, the Palestinians cannot be business partners. On our recent visit to Israel, JINSA visited the Karnei commercial crossing where Gazans export their goods to Israeli territory. Israel spent nearly $12 million dollars making Karnei secure in the face of ongoing terrorist attacks there and at the Erez population crossing. The Palestinians, who presumably need the outlets more than Israel needs the oranges, spent nothing.

Ah, you say, they have nothing to spend. Well, yes, because Palestinian leadership started a war against Israel in 2000. Real help for the Palestinian people will be found only in ending the war they started, accepting the legitimacy and permanence of Israel in the region, building a legal structure to protect commercial investment and working with Israel for economic advancement. Ask the Jordanians.