(Israel Hayom) David M. Weinberg - The Palestinians keep insisting to every international interlocutor that they are ready for statehood. The Palestinian government(s) I see are far from being "ready" for statehood or peace with Israel, for reasons that range from impotency to insolvency and raw anti-Semitism. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad this week was forced to shelve his plan to actually tax PA businessmen. The PA has a budget deficit of over $1 billion and almost no self-generated income? You call this a well-functioning, self-governing authority ready for statehood? Over the past ten years, the Palestinians have received more than $25 billion in international assistance, and the PA itself pulled in more than $4 billion per year in 2009 and 2010. These are astronomical sums, averaging donations of $1,000 per person per year. Yet very little of this money has been invested in projects that advance Palestinian infrastructure or create economic growth. According to Hebrew University geographer and water expert Prof. Haim Gvirtzman, 95% of the sewage produced by the Palestinians each year flows untreated into the ground, poisoning the water future of both Israel and the Palestinians. Only one sewage plant has been built in the West Bank in the last 15 years, despite a $500 million international donor fund available for this purpose. Despite all the international NGOs advising and assisting the PA, no recycling of water takes place and no treated water is used for agriculture. A well-functioning national authority? It doesn't even come close to being a decently run local municipality.
2012-02-10 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive