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Palestinians Are Not Ready to Restore Ties with Israel
(Washington Post) Steve Hendrix and Hazem Balousha - When Palestinians cut off long-standing security, financial and civil ties with their Israeli counterparts in May, they pledged not to resume them until Israel gave up its plans to extend Israeli law to Jewish communities in the West Bank. But when these plans were halted as part of a diplomatic breakthrough between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Palestinian leaders condemned the UAE for normalizing relations with Israel. Weeks later, they still will not restart cooperation, rebuffing European and Arab allies that pushed them to end a policy that seemed to be hurting everyday Palestinians more than Israel. Public coffers are being drained and civil servants are on half pay because the Palestinian Authority refuses to accept tax and customs payments from Israel. More than 25,000 babies born in the West Bank have not been registered by Israeli civil authorities, making them ineligible for passports. The response in the Arab world was far from what Palestinian leaders wanted. Bahrain, Egypt and Oman expressed support for the UAE deal. Kuwait and other Arab states in the Persian Gulf declined to condemn it. Palestinian requests for an emergency response from the Arab League have so far produced little.