By Ramzy Baroud
If you happen to be a Palestinian Government employee, chances are you will receive only half your usual salary this month. The second half will only be available when international donors find it in their hearts to do for the enormous shortage of funds currently facing the Palestinian Authority (PA).
With a deficit standing at around 640 million dollars, Prime minister Salam Fayyad PA Government is experiencing one of its worst ever financial crisis. The Palestinian economy, however, is not a real economy of universally accepted standards. It survives largely on handouts of donor countries. These funds have saved Israel much of its financial responsibility as an occupying power under the stipulations of the Fourth Geneva Convention. They also have hidden up a Palestinian leadership that is trying to ensure its own survival at serving the interests of major donors.
Funds, however, are now drying. This could be attributed to a political attempt to deter PA President Mahmoud Abbas from seeking recognition of a Palestinian State in the UNITED NATIONS next September. PA officials have been very agitated by Shift, blamed donor countries, including Arab countries, not to honour their financial obligations.
Yasser Abed Rabbo, Secretary general of the PLO, spoke of a crisis to voice of Palestine Radio ' unprecedented '. "The situation has become very complicated for the Palestinian Authority because of the failure of the Arab countries to meet their financial commitments."
Fayyad suggested it was ' irony ', the current crisis comes at a time when the PA had reduced its dependence on foreign assistance for nearly half — from 1.8 billion in 2008 to 970 m $ – according to the Jerusalem Post. Now, even this half is cut, as only $ 331 m of the promised $ 970 m has been received.
Top PA officials have yet to join open dots between wrongful retention of funds and the political reality in Palestine. Fayyad insisted that "the crisis does not cause doubts our preparedness for the establishment of the State," while Abed Rabbo alleged that the crisis would not stop the PA's efforts to seek an independent State along the pre-1967 lines.
PA undoubtedly understand the financial costs of any political adventure that is deemed unfavorable to Israel-especially since they are continually are reminded of the ' historical tapes ' and ' shared values ' that unites Israel and the United States.
One such reminder had the huge margin of us House of representatives in July 2007. It was an "overwhelming 406-6 vote," AFP reported, where U.S. legislators, "warned the Palestinians that they risk cuts in U.S. aid if they pursue UN recognition of a future State is not defined in direct negotiations with Israel." The message echoed another vote on a similar resolution in the US Senate.
Such blind support for Israel by u.s. serves to make life much easier for isrælske diplomats. They must now focus less on the United States than in those European countries that have pledged to back PA statehood initiative.
PA is of course very vulnerable to threats, despite their insistence to the contrary. When the United States and the other begins to toss wrongful retention of funds card, swaying any fixed PA political program usually in confusing and even self-destructive political babble. Lack security of pas political language could be attributed to the fear that a single decision to withhold funds combined with a isrælske decision to hold taxes collected on behalf of the PA, the Government would not last more than a mere weeks.
We should remember that the West Bank and East Jerusalem is occupied. Deprived of even a hint of territorial sovereignty and presiding over a donation-based national economy, the PA has no political independence outside the allowable margins allowed by the United States and Israel, countries that are determined to defeat the Palestinian national project.
The Palestinian Authority has to contend with this strange situation since its inception in 1994. Become a guardian of the Palestinian national interest and simultaneously fulfils the Isræls political interests and U.S. expectations is an impossible feat. That enigma will be determined almost always at the expense of the Palestinians themselves. The latest accident has been the unit signed between Hamas and pas ruling party, Fatah, in Egypt on April 27.
Unit was crucial to a coherent political programme to be formed against Palestinian rights and possible statehood. When the agreement was officially signed the beginning of may, it was assumed that the various committees would be able to quickly end the process with a view to setting a date for future elections and bringing a complete end four-year feud between the two factions.
A counter isrælske strategy, however, was soon counterfeited. May 4, as Palestinians celebrated their unit, led isrælske prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu counter campaign from London. "What happened today in Cairo is a huge blow to the peace and a great victory for terrorism," he told journalists (as reported by Reuters). United States echoed Netanyahu's helm words, EU countries reacted ' gently ', and arm-twisting began.
Once again stood Abbas and PA with a dilemma about priorities. Government of national unity in Palestine was to suffer a further blow. "The Palestinian President would not want to lead two diplomatic battle for the recognition of an alliance with the Islamic militants and a UN nod to State at the same time," said an official in the PLO (as quoted by the Associated Press and Håretz).
The vote in the UN would "be a largely symbolic step that Palestinians hope nevertheless want to improve their leverage against Israel," according to the report AP. ' Symbolic ' maybe, but it is a priority, Abbas feels comes ahead of much-needed national unity and a unified political program.
In the meantime arrested PA forces — trained and armed by the United States and in constant coordination with the isrælske army – reportedly 68 Hamas members in recent weeks, according to a report by Maan News Agency, quoting a Hamas statement.
While Abbas is now pursuing a diplomatic mission to drum up support for his UN initiative, try Fayyad to collect funds to prop up PA economy some more months. In the meantime, Palestinian national unity, without which the Palestinians remain hopelessly fragmented and vulnerable to external pressure and foreign priorities – will remain merely ink on paper.
-Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is an internationally syndicated columnist and editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book, my father was a freedom fighter: Gaza's Untold Story (Pluto Press, London), available on Amazon.com.
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