JINSA Report #521 Meanwhile, Back in Gaza (Part II)

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September 30, 2005

JINSA Report #521

Meanwhile, Back in Gaza (Part II)

Money is a lever in international relations, but the U.S. appears
unwilling to use it to induce civilized, or at least non-destructive
behavior in the Palestinians. Because American funds are largely
directed through NGOs to specific projects intended to meet otherwise
unmet social needs, the administration won't cut the cash. But because
the U.S., Israel and various NGOs and "humanitarians" fund assistance
for the Palestinians, huge sums from the EU and money in the PA treasury
are spent on military/terrorist activities – including massive spending
on the uncontrolled multiple PA security forces, none of which appear
willing or able to maintain security in Gaza.

The U.S. has tried to fix that. In February, Secretary Rice assigned Lt.
Gen. William Ward, USA, "to provide a focal point for training,
equipping, helping the Palestinians to build their security forces and
also for monitoring, and if necessary, to help the parties on security
matters." But in a Sept. 21st appearance before a House Committee, Lt.
Gen. Ward said Abu Mazen failed to implement the requirements for
security reform, including a mandatory retirement age of 60 to reduce
the nearly 60,000 registered members of PA security agencies and
facilitate a drive to impose discipline.

The State Department had drafted a list of five priorities to help the
Palestinians ensure internal security and border stability: drafting a
formal Palestinian security doctrine to be supported by legislation; a
PA force review; disarming Palestinian terrorist groups; reducing the
security forces; and restructuring and equipping streamlined agencies.
The PA has seriously addressed none of these tasks.

Lt. Gen. Ward told Congress that the PA has failed even to fulfill the
requirements that would bring significant international financial and
material assistance to the security forces. According to news reports,
the PA refused to cooperate with Quartet efforts to determine the
legitimate PA security force requirements for weapons, communications,
vehicles and salaries. In response, donor nations have, for now,
suspended plans to ship lethal weaponry to the PA. For now, we are
properly grateful.

PA demands for other people's money and insistence that its
military/paramilitary forces be unregulated by those who would fund them
point to a larger problem.

The U.S. and others presume that the Palestinians need "help" to become
a democratic "country." It never seems to occur to them that the PA
doesn't WANT to be a democratic country, or a country at all. The PA
doesn't need "help" to "dismantle the terrorist infrastructure." It IS
the terrorist infrastructure, allied with Hamas and PIJ to maintain a
territorial platform for killing Jews and harassing Israel, knowing they
can't defeat it. Abu Mazen doesn't want to be "strengthened," Hamas
doesn't have to get rid of him because he provides a respectable "face"
to the donors. The PA takes what we offer and declines to be anything
other than what it actually is.

The U.S. government needs to rethink its paradigm for "Palestine" before
more people get killed.

To view this JINSA Report online click on the link below.
http://www.jinsa.org/JINSAReports/3174

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