|
Trending Topics
|
Source: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-bribe-of-the-century/
U.S. Economic Plan Stirs Thought among West Bank Palestinians
(Times of Israel) Avi Issacharoff - Due to the strong opposition of the Palestinian leadership to the U.S. plan, the Americans tried to offer an aid package fat enough to ignite the imaginations of millions of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. They may have succeeded. Not all Palestinians were on board with the leadership's rejection of the plan. At a time when the PA is paying only 50% of its employees' salaries and when stories of corruption by high-ranking PA officials are breaking every day, the public is rather pessimistic about the chances of establishing a Palestinian state. For this reason, talk of economic improvement and the billions of dollars in investment is stirring a great deal of thought among many West Bank residents, who wonder if, in light of the political stalemate and the absence of worthy Palestinian leadership, it is time to focus on the here and now and aim for economic improvement. But it is doubtful that moderate public pressure to give the American proposal a try will change the leadership's stance.