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How to Reduce Palestinian Dependence on International Aid

(Jerusalem Post) Editorial - The Palestinian economy was in dire straits long before Hamas' ascension to power resulted in the withholding of financial support by the international community. Over the last decade billions of dollars were donated with few tangible, and almost no self-sustaining, benefits to show for such well-meant assistance. The international community must internalize the lessons of having thrown money into the bottomless pit of a terror-ridden, corrupt, and economically directionless PA. Like any investors looking for return on their investment, they should have insisted on a "business plan," an overall strategy intended ultimately to reduce the Palestinians' dependence on international aid. They should have set out the goals to be achieved with donated funds, and the benchmarks for determining progress. And the funding should have been explicitly conditioned on such progress.
2006-04-19 00:00:00
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