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Source: http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Editorials/Article.aspx?id=284863
The Palestinian Authority's Sorry State
(Jerusalem Post) Editorial - No headlines were generated when PA President Mahmoud Abbas recently insisted that there would be no peace unless Jews were "evacuated from Jerusalem, our holy city and the eternal capital of our state." While Abbas slanders willfully and fans the flames with pyromaniac zeal, Israel underwrites him and facilitates his very political survival. Israel has traditionally functioned as the devil in Arab societies and this is no exception. Numerous factors contribute to making the PA an economic basket case. The notorious corruption at the top is only one. Whenever things get tight, Ramallah cries out for greater handouts that then promptly disappear down its drain. Moreover, dependence on foreign philanthropy is not conducive to constructing viable self-reliance. The obligatory mantra for both the incompetent leadership and the volatile masses is to blame Israel and so-called occupation for their intractable mess. Israel in its omnipresent role as the regional bogeyman is the universal Arab glue. However, Israel is the indispensable crutch upon which the PA leans. Without Israel propping up the Ramallah-based economy, things there would be incalculably worse. Thus Israeli taxpayers foot the PA electricity bills.