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The U.S. Failure behind Israel's Jenin Raid
(Washington Examiner) Sean Durns - America's close ally, Israel, launched the largest military excursion in the West Bank in nearly two decades. And a decades-long, bipartisan United States policy failure is partially to blame. The operation in Jenin really highlights the failure of the Palestinian Authority, the U.S.-backed entity that was created as part of the 1990s Oslo Peace Process. The PA is tasked with preventing terrorism, and its security forces are trained and armed by the United States, among others, to do just that. Instead of preventing terrorism, however, the PA pays tax-deductible salaries to those who carry out terrorist attacks. The PA has also incentivized terrorism in other ways. PA Chairman Abbas' iron fist masks a brittle hand. The authority's control of key towns has been slipping. Iranian-backed rivals of Fatah, like Hamas and PIJ, have seen growing support in the West Bank. Iran covets the West Bank, hoping to turn it into another front to launch attacks into Israel. The U.S. has failed to stave off the PA's growing unpopularity and weakness, declining to pressure the authority to uphold the rule of law. Fixated on a "two-state solution" that Palestinian leaders like Abbas have repeatedly rejected, U.S. policymakers have infantilized Fatah's leadership, failing to push for healthy institutions and a stop to the authority's policy of rewarding terrorism. The writer is a senior research analyst for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis.