Ceren - Yet Another Reason a Palestinian State Would Instantly Be a Failed State

Omri Ceren
Commentary/Contentions
21 June '11

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/06/21/palestinian-state-failed-state/

We have to go over this theme now and again because analysts and diplomats charged with evaluating Palestinian progress tend to make things up a lot. Contrary to UN Special Coordinator Robert Serry, the Palestinians do not have functioning political institutions. Contrary to Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store, the Palestinians can’t exert sovereignty over their territory. Contrary to Washington Institute analyst David Makovsky, the Palestinian government is structurally unable to embrace living side by side with Israel. There’s a pattern here.

Now it turns out, per the pro-Palestinian shills at UNRWA, the Palestinian economy is still totally reliant on foreign funding. The government and the economy would collapse without a constant stream of donations. That wouldn’t be a huge problem except, per the soon-to-be-unemployed Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, it’s also the case Western and Arab countries have been routinely failing to provide promised funds. The shortfalls are preventing the Palestinian Authority from meeting the basic obligations governments are often expected to meet, like “paying for stuff.”

The international community is neglecting its commitments even while its cherubic Palestinian wards remain the global cause celebre. Should they ever fall off the radar they would receive even less attention, with a potential collapse of the Palestinian government becoming a real possibility.

Of course, Israel would be blamed for any economic crisis. Activists and diplomats would rush to explain how the Israelis hadn’t really granted the Palestinians autonomy. That – not corrupt and immature Palestinian institutions – would be identified as the real cause of economic instability, which in turn would be identified as the “root cause” of ongoing terrorism (terrorism strangely unslacked by the unprecedented creation of yet another Arab state in the Middle East).

Fair enough. Israel would make territorial concessions on the basis of some fantasy of Palestinian institution-building, that fantasy would collapse, and Israel would get scapegoated while pro-Israel advocates sputtered “but we told you this would happen.” Very comfortable and familiar. Everybody knows their lines.

But let’s not pretend the scenario is anything but inevitable. UNRWA says a Palestinian government can’t function without outside assistance. The Palestinian Prime Minister says adequate outside assistance has not been forthcoming. The implications aren’t exactly beyond human scrutiny.

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