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Palestinian Irresponsibility

(Jerusalem Post) Editorial - The Palestinian Authority is currently embroiled in a largely self-inflicted financial crisis. Unfortunately, instead of taking responsible steps to remedy the situation, the PA has chosen a tried-and-true tactic - blaming Israel. As the Jerusalem Post's Palestinian affairs correspondent Khaled Abu Toameh has reported, Palestinians - particularly those living in refugee camps - have either avoided paying their electricity bills (as well as their water and municipality bills) or have been regularly stealing electricity. Apparently out of an inflated sense of entitlement, Palestinians believe the international community - particularly the Americans and the Europeans - should foot their bills. Instead of launching a more aggressive crackdown against Palestinians who don't pay their bills, the PA, with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's backing, decided to cancel all outstanding electricity bills for Palestinians living in the West Bank. At the same time, Fayyad lashed out at Israel for daring to collect Palestinian debts to the Israel Electric Company. Just this weekend Fatah spent more than $1 million for celebrations marking the 48th anniversary of the "launching of the revolution" - a reference to the first armed attack carried out by Fatah against Israel. Instead of choosing a path of self-empowerment and accepting responsibility for their own fate, Fayyad and other Palestinian leaders have opted yet again for the well-traversed road of self-victimization. Apparently, Palestinian leaders in the West Bank believe they will succeed in deflecting growing anger and frustration on the Palestinian street and redirect it toward Israel.
2013-01-07 00:00:00
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