Daily Alert Archives

The Palestinian Statehood Move

(Economist-UK) The Palestinian Authority push this month for recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN is a highly complicated and sensitive issue which many Palestinians view with some trepidation. For one thing, the PA's government and economy (which grew at a very satisfactory 9% clip last year; there are snazzy retail-office complexes and condos going up all over Ramallah) are heavily dependent on donor aid from the U.S. and EU. A unilateral declaration of statehood could cut off the flow, either because donors would drop out or because Israel would block financial support. The PA is already months behind on salary payments to its staffers. But because the PA leadership has already committed itself to asking for statehood, walking the idea back or coming up with a squishy enough formulation to avoid donor retaliation would be difficult. Second, the push for statehood requires the PA to get people out in the streets this month to show support, in order to generate headlines and focus international attention. But demonstrations could get out of hand, and radical splinter groups or Hamas itself could always decide their own interests are best served by provoking a blowup. Recent terror attacks in southern Israel and subsequent rounds of Israeli retaliatory raids and shelling from Gaza are probably related to Hamas' need to assert itself in the run-up to the statehood bid.
2011-09-02 00:00:00
Full Article