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Source: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/50-billion-reasons-why-the-pa-and-plo-reject-peace-for-prosperity/
Why the PA Rejects the American Economic Plan
(Times of Israel) Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch - When you read "Peace to Prosperity," the American economic plan to promote peace between Israel and the Palestinians, the first question that comes to mind is why is the Palestinian leadership rejecting it? The plan adopts Palestinian terminology and incorporates themes favorable to the Palestinian narrative and detrimental to Israel's. It would appear to give the Palestinians almost everything they want. Yet the PA/PLO's rejection of the plan has nothing to do with its substantive contents. They reject the plan because it plainly says that for the last 25 years, the PA leaders have failed the Palestinian people. Criticizing the PA's eternal narrative of victimhood, the plan suggests opening "a new chapter in Palestinian history - one defined not by adversity and loss, but by freedom and dignity." This approach undermines the PA leadership's message which for decades has blamed the woes of the Palestinians on Israel while absolving itself of any responsibility. The reforms the plan suggests to the Palestinian legal, educational, and health systems reflect deep-seated and wholly justifiable criticism of the failed, biased, and ineffectual systems that the PA, abusing billions of dollars of donor aid, has created. The final PA rejection of the plan came when the U.S. authors dared to state that the capital raised would not be given directly to the PA but rather would be "administered by a multilateral development bank" that would ensure that "all the Palestinians - not just the wealthy and connected - share in the benefits of peace." For years, Palestinian leaders and their cronies have lined their pockets with millions of dollars of donor aid. This, according to the plan, would all come to an end. The writer is head of legal strategies for Palestinian Media Watch. He served for 19 years in the IDF Military Advocate General Corps, including as Director of the Military Prosecution in Judea and Samaria.