Throughout the long peace process, the Palestinian Authority’s shaky finances have been propped up with billions of dollars of foreign aid. This was for a compelling reason: when a sovereign Palestinian state finally comes into existence, its viability would depend on a government made up of seasoned bureaucrats able to run the new country.
Now that the sham of the peace process has ended and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly admits that there was never any intention for Israel to cede control of any territory west of the Jordan River, some of those who have donated to keep the Palestinian Authority going must be wondering why they ought to continue.
Without a viable peace process to create a Palestinian state, money to keep the authority going instead has the effect that Israel’s citizens pay little to meet the country’s obligations: under international law, Israel is responsible for all those living under occupation. In effect, Israel has outsourced much of the cost of its illegal occupation to the international community.
Most of the aid to the Palestinian Authority comes from the European Union and several of its member states, the Arab League, the US, Japan and Canada. It is little surprise that some see no reason for this to continue when the two-state solution is effectively over.
The Palestinians realise Israel benefits from letting the international community bear the burden. With cost of living rating as a higher priority for most Israelis than solving the conflict with the Palestinians, president Mahmoud Abbas has used this fact as leverage, mooting the dissolution of the Palestinian Authority to make governance – and its full cost – Israel’s problem.
Just as with international donors who are reluctant to pay to reconstruct Gaza's infrastructure out of fear it will simply serve as future Israeli targets in the next round of bloodletting, so too the donors paying for the Palestinian Authority's finances are calling for a political solution. If Israel has to bear the full cost of its occupation, that will act as pressure that could finally make it serious about pursuing peace.
