Some staffers and diplomats at the State Department with time on their hands are, no doubt, working hard right now to come up with a legal rationale for continuing U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority. The consummation of the Fatah-Hamas unity pact earlier this week and the impending ouster of PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad ought to make any further assistance to Mahmoud Abbas’s rogue regime legally and morally untenable. But in case apologists for keeping U.S. taxpayer dollars flowing to terrorists pledged to Israel’s destruction are paying attention, even before the new unity government takes office there are plenty of reasons to think seriously about American subsidies for the corrupt and tyrannical PA.
While many Americans are obsessing about human rights elsewhere in the Arab world, it appears the American-funded PA is practicing its own brand of tyranny. The Jerusalem Post’s Khaled Abu Toameh reports the Palestinian security forces are now monitoring Facebook posts by residents of the West Bank and taking those who make critical remarks about the PA’s leadership in for questioning. Because Palestinians know all too well the armed gunmen who report to Abbas and his underlings are Fatah thugs and not genuine law enforcement officers, the upshot of is only nice things are going to be said there about Abbas.
The idea that the PA respected the human rights of those Palestinians who were placed under its care by the Oslo Accords was always something of a fantasy. But since the death of Yasir Arafat, many here have clung to the notion that Abbas was an improvement. But that was always more a matter of apparel than anything else, because Americans find it hard to believe a man who wears a suit to work like Abbas can be just as much of a despot as one who wore fatigues like Arafat.
Given the low standards set for human rights and governance by Abbas’s predecessor one might think Internet censorship is the least of the problems of ordinary Palestinians. But in the absence of a PA government that respects the rule of law, peace with Israel or even a civil Palestinian society will remain a distant dream.
Israel is not going back into Gaza or areas set aside for Palestinian administrative and security control. Fact of life. Even if there is an incursion current consensus would compel withdrawal after "mowing the grass." Precisely because of this, Bibi has been pushing the notion of "conflict management" to Washington as a substitute to final-peace (and, domesticially, re-occupation). Conflict management is helped by some measure of inertia in continuing pre-existing arrangements–so slow trigger on funding cut-offs if avoidable–even though everyone knows the funds are being skimmed and yeah that Fatah is in bed with Hamas in bed with thugs and killers.
The idea is not to start banging on the scorpion cage–rogue, corrupt, tyrannical–meh, partially true yeah but also in part slogans on the PC quick keys. When Abbas and Hamas step out of the box–new UNSC gambits, intifidah-lite or intifadah-heavy agitprop provocations, moves to bust the naval blockade–Israel will recalibrate. But for now the kids will have to find some other peer-to-peer network–or txt mesaging circles which they can set up on a cell-like 1-to-limited-many basis (like soccer mom carpool call networks or the old Gdead tape-treading chains) to get around "the man."
What is most disturbing is not that the State Department will be pushing for continued US funding of the PA gangsters. But that Netanyahu's government may also pushing in the same direction. Last time Chairwoman Cong. Ros Lehtinen tried to cut funding to the PA the Israeli government intervened, asking her to stop her efforts since it favored continued funding. Will the PA's latest agreement with Hamas who don't even pretend not to be genocidal murderers change Netanyahu's continued willingness to compromise with Israel's enemies? I doubt it.
imo Bibi favors the devil he knows to vacuum. And he knows not only Fatah but has working contacts and fixes with Hamas. So Fatah + Hamas is not necessarily a huge leap into worrisome territory. What he doesn't want is collapse.
All this is just fun and games and a prelude to the upcoming turf wars in the PA and Gaza. We'll all have to pretend that we care, that there are serious political dimensions to what will essentially be an Arab-on-Arab mob and gang scuffle. May they all be victorious.