Khaled Abu Toameh - What the Palestinians Want

Khaled Abu Toameh..
Gatestone Institute..
04 May '12..





No matter how much the US tries to help the Palestinians, it will always be viewed by many of them as an enemy.

Last week, President Barack Obama gave $147 million to the Palestinians. A few days later, Palestinians demonstrated in Ramallah against the US and boycotted a ceremony held by the US Consulate-General. The protesters carried placards which read: "USAID go out!" and "We reject aid from those who deny our people the right to self-determination."

USAID is the leading provider of bilateral development assistance to the Palestinians. This agency has given the Palestinians more than $3.5 billion since 1994 for programs in the areas of democracy and governance, education, health, humanitarian assistance, private enterprise and water resources and infrastructure.

The demonstration in Ramallah was held outside a hotel where US officials organized a ceremony marking World Press Freedom Day. Palestinian Authority policemen were deployed outside the hotel to prevent angry demonstrators from disrupting the ceremony.

The protesters chanted slogans denouncing US "bias" in favor of Israel. They accused the US of "covering up" for Israeli "war crimes" and using blocking efforts against the Palestinian leadership to seek UN recognition of a Palestinian state.

Wilder - Where Were $3.4 Billion of American Tax Dollars Spent?

David Wilder..
hebron.com..
31 January '12..




According to Foreign Policy magazine, in an article titled Hard times in Hebron, the United States has spent $3.4 billion in development funds in the Palestinian territories of West Bank and Gaza

So, it appears that this poor, oppressed, underdeveloped Arab city has doubled the number of building permits issued since 2006, and is preparing to solicit bids for a road to a new $13 million water treatment facility — financed, of course, by USAID.

Not everyone is happy about spending so much money in the PA.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: “By providing the Palestinians with $2.5 billion over the last five years, the U.S. has only rewarded and reinforced their bad behavior.”

The US State Department disagrees: “We think it is money that is not only in the interest of the Palestinians; it’s in U.S. interest and it’s also in Israeli interest.”

What is this money used for?

Joffe: Who Oversees Foreign Aid to the Palestinians?

Alexander Joffe
Hudson New York
05 May '11

http://www.hudson-ny.org/2085/palestinians-foreign-aid


In Palestinian economics, where all the money goes is unclear -- but where does all the money come from? Which U.S. programs give how much and who has legislative oversight? Now that Palestinian Authority (PA) prime minister Salaam Fayyad has announced a plan for September for unilateral Palestinian statehood, which includes a request for $5 billion over three years -- and presumes that the newly announced Fatah-Hamas rapprochement does not scuttle all American aid -- the problem of oversight is all the more pressing.

The fundamental tension between Congress's power of the purse and the president's obligation to make foreign policy has always been clear. But so too is the extent to which certifications and waivers by the Executive blatantly circumvent the express will of Congress and defy its obligations to advise and obtain consent.

The will of Congress and the empirical reality regarding the difficulties of the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian society count for little when successive U.S. presidents waive requirements and certify compliance regardless of Palestinian performance. And presidential ability to "reprogram" funds removes Congress even farther from the equation.

A recent Congressional Research Service study notes that since 2007 the U.S. has contributed $650 million to the Palestinian Authority for "direct budgetary assistance" and almost $400 million for "security forces and criminal justice systems" in the West Bank. Almost another $1 billion was directed through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to be "implemented by nongovernmental organizations in humanitarian assistance, economic development, democratic reform, improving water access and other infrastructure, health care, education, and vocational training." Finally, the U.S. is the largest single contributor to UNRWA and having provided over $230 million in 2010.

USAID, Spanish Government Supporting Anti-Israel Tourism Group?

Alana Goodman
Commentary/Contentions
14 January '11

Some Israeli bloggers have discovered that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Spanish government may be involved with a Palestinian tourism website that seems to be disseminating some troubling anti-Israel propaganda. Here’s some of the background on the story from Challah Hu Akbar:

The other day we heard how Spain was sponsoring a PA TV ad that called for the boycott of all Israeli products.

Spain denied the accusations and began an investigation, saying they were the victims.

Now it seems as though Spain is funding the website Travel to Palestine. (h/t ElderofZiyon) This website is known for its ad in the UK which said that Palestine was the area from the Mediterranean to Jordan, thus eliminating Israel. Read this for more on what they view Palestine as. …

A map on the site does not show Israel.

The Travel to Palestine website, which appears to be the official site of the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism, can be found here. The ministry’s website claims that Palestine “lies between the Mediterranean Coast and the Jordan River, at the crossroads between Africa and the Middle East” (which, while technically true, is still a bit misleading).

Challah Hu Akbar also notes that a map on the site does not show Israel, just a blank space where Israel should be. In addition, the information section says that the capital of Palestine — which is obviously not yet a country — is Jerusalem.

(Read full "USAID, Spanish Government Supporting Anti-Israel Tourism Group?")

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ZOA Opposes Obama's Funding Palestinian Construction In Judea/Samaria - While Demanding Israel Stop Jewish Construction

Morton Klein
ZOA Press Release
15 October '10

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has opposed the Obama Administration for funding Palestinian construction projects in Judea and Samaria while at the same time demanding and publicly pressuring Israel to stop all Jewish construction in the same areas. This is despite the fact that Israel is only building within the boundaries of existing Jewish communities, which comprise only 4%-5% of the disputed areas of Judea and Samaria.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been financing Palestinian infrastructure projects in these disputed territories, including projects that involve the construction of PA municipal buildings, as well as roads and other infrastructure. A World Net Daily report indicates that “by aiding Palestinian construction of infrastructure in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem, the U.S. has effectively been helping the PA create facts on the ground that could push disputed neighborhoods toward becoming part of a Palestinian state, including areas where the land in question is wholly owned by Jews.”

Last month the State Department inaugurated a USAID-funded Palestinian school in Beit Ijza, a neighborhood about five miles northwest of Jerusalem. Development with U.S. aid has also been extended to northern Jerusalem neighborhoods of Kfar Akeb, Qalandiya and Samir Amis, which are close to the Jewish neighborhoods of Neve Yaacov and Pisgat Zeev in Israel’s capital. (Kfar Akeb, Qalandiya and Samir Amis are located entirely within the Jerusalem municipality and were populated by Jews until the 1948 war). This represents a stepping-up of U.S. assistance to Palestinian construction projects over and above funding for Palestinian development in eastern Jerusalem over recent years.

In Kfar Akeb in Jerusalem, an official sign reads in English, ‘Ramallah-Jerusalem Road. This project is a gift form (sic) the American people to the Palestinian people in cooperation with the Palestinian Authority and PECDAR. 2007.’ The sign bears the emblems of the American and PA governments and of USAID and was not present when last checked in 2006. In these neighborhoods, official PA logos and placards abound, including one glaring red street sign at the entrance to the neighborhoods warning Israelis to keep out (Aaron Klein, ‘Double-talking on Israel: U.S. aids Palestinians? Obama demands Jews stop construction while building PA foothold in same areas,’ World Net Daily, October 10, 2010).

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “It is disturbing that the Obama Administration is adopting Palestinian positions, effectively acting as the lawyer/negotiator for the Palestinian Authority, demanding that Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria be stopped in order to one day create a Jew-free Palestinian state and aiding the PA in building up its presence even in eastern Jerusalem.

“The Obama Administration itself states that Jerusalem is a final status issue to be negotiated directly between the two parties. If that is the case, then the Obama Administration should be doing nothing to bolster the Palestinian position in Jerusalem, which creates facts on the ground and therefore prejudices the outcome of those negotiations, should they ever occur.

“We note that part of the explicit rationale of the Obama Administration opposing Jewish construction is that it creates facts on the ground. Why then are they not opposing the creation of facts on the ground by Palestinians? Worse, why are they funding these efforts with U.S. taxpayer money? Consistency requires that it start opposing Palestinian efforts to change the facts on the ground and cease funding these efforts.

“The ZOA calls upon the Obama Administration to cease funding PA construction projects. We further call upon the U.S. Congress to investigate whether funding PA infrastructure developments in disputed territories is even a permissible use of U.S. funds, especially in light of continuing PA sponsorship of incitement to hatred and violence against Israel.”

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Coexistence partners with ourselves?

Seth J. Frantzman
Terra Incognita
22 September '10
Posted before Chag

The shocking, but comical, news that the Palestinian Authority’s two most powerful politicians had withdrawn their support for a US-funded coexistence campaign encouraging average Israelis to be “partners” in peace is part of the larger failure of misguided coexistence projects.

The latest story goes something like this.

As a background to the peace talks now under way, USAID, a US government humanitarian and economic assistance organization, supported a Geneva Initiative ad campaign aimed at encouraging Israelis to support peace. The campaign created 30-second video clips of Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat asking Israelis, “Are you my partner” and purchased 280 billboards across the country. The billboards are modeled on Facebook and show a photo of leading Palestinians asking people to accept their “partner request.”

On September 7 it was announced that Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad had asked not to be associated with the peace partner campaign because it was “too Israeli.”

Fayyad complained that the Geneva Initiative had not gotten his consent to be used in the campaign and according to reporter Avi Issacharoff, “Fayyad also reportedly noted that it wasn’t clear to him why the campaign did not also feature Israeli figures addressing the Palestinian public.”

This is a question others have raised.

(Read full story)

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Three Palestinian Leaders Back Out Of Peace Partner Videos

Daled Amos
19 September '10

You can imagine how they feel about the peace talks.

I've been thinking about my last post, If Europe Is So Eager To Support Peace Groups In Israel, Why Does It Support Incitement In The West Bank?

There really is a huge discrepancy between the nature of the funding for 'peace initiatives' by third party groups in Israel and the West Bank. The fact that--as noted in the Wall Street Journal article about Funding Palestinian Incitement--European funding goes toward activities that discourage reconciliation with Israel and increase hatred, brings up the question:

Is Europe is focused only on creating a second Palestinian state without consideration for the repercussions or maintenance--or is the EU merely as corrupt and incompetent as the Palestinian Authority it insists on aiding.
Not much choice there.

The latest Geneva Initiative highlights the same problem--USAID funds videos of Palestinian leaders with the message: "I am your partner. Are you my partner?"

Some of those Palestinian "partners" have already begun to back out:

(Read full post)

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U.S. Taxpayers Foot Bill for Ludicrous Palestinian Authority Propaganda Campaign

A campaign designed to put the onus for peace on Israeli citizens is getting deservedly ridiculed.


Barry Rubin
pajamasmedia.com
10 September '10

Over and over, the Obama administration shows its capacity for misunderstanding Israel and decreasing its own popularity there. Even while bilateral relations are good, it reminds Israelis of why they shouldn’t fundamentally trust this government and that Washington doesn’t understand them at all.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) — which is supposed to help countries raise their living standards — gave a $250,000 grant to the H.L. Peace Education Program of the Geneva Initiative. (I wonder if the U.S. Congress considers this to be within AID’s mandate!) The money isn’t paying for potable water, health clinics, or small factories. It’s paying for billboards and videos in Israel, featuring the faces of Palestinian and Israeli officials asking:

We are partners — what about you?

Typical, isn’t it? The implication of the signs and film clips is that the Palestinians are ready for peace, the question is only whether Israel wants it. Should be very effective with Israelis, right? If you have any doubts on that point, read the article about what went on behind the scenes during production from Israel’s leading newspaper, Yediot Ahronot. Even the Israeli film crew members were making sarcastic cracks about what the “partners” were saying off-camera.

I should mention that there is also a series of billboards aimed at Palestinians with Israelis featured. Not a single heart or mind will be changed by this waste of money. One of the main Israelis featured is Yossi Beilin, plus others in the opposition in Israel but who were involved in some cases with the sponsoring group. In a sense, the campaign is an advertisement for themselves, not for peace, since these people aren’t in the government.

(Read full article)

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Saeb Erekat: "I am a liar" (video)

Elder of Ziyon
01 September '10

Over the past few days, Israelis have been inundated with a slick advertising campaign, financed by the US and created by the left wing "Geneva Initiative," to convince them that the current government does not want peace and that Palestinian Arabs do.

Here is my take on one of the commercials, starring everyone's favorite liar, Saeb Erekat.



To see more Elder of Ziyon videos, click here.

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Artificial peace messages

Gerald Steinberg
Israel Opinion/Ynet
01 September '10

After failing for 18 months to reverse the results of the 2009 Israeli election that brought a coalition headed by Benjamin Netanyahu to power, the Obama administration appeared to have stopped the clumsy efforts to manipulate Israeli democracy. But now the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is using a small opposition group to sell artificial peace messages to Israelis.

This US-sponsored campaign is based on political advertisements with the message “that there is a (Palestinian) partner, that the problem is specifically with us.” The texts are prepared by a group calling itself the “Geneva Initiative,” and include video clips of Palestinian officials telling Israelis that there is a “window of opportunity” for reaching a peace agreement. USAID is also funding a parallel campaign aimed at a Palestinian audience.

In December 2003, amidst the mass terror campaign that followed the Oslo “peace process,” the Geneva Initiative began to promote its peace plan, using funding provided by Swiss politicians with no understanding of the Middle East. While most of the Israelis involved were opposition figures (including Yossi Beilin), the Palestinians were all linked to the Fatah organization, which was still controlled by Arafat.

Dubbed “Oslo 2”, the substance of the proposed agreement was also problematic, including very weak security provisions and a highly ambiguous framework for dealing with Palestinian refugee claims. As a result of the terms and the catastrophic experience with Oslo, this initiative had no traction. Nevertheless, the efforts to sell the framework have continued, but foreign government funding has not contributed to public acceptance.

(Read full article)

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Is Obama engaged in agitprop?

Yisrael Medad
Green-Lined/JPost
31 August '10

Is Washington engaged in a subversion agitprop campaign? Against an ally?

According to the Jerusalem Post:

The Geneva Initiative unveiled a campaign partially funded by the USAID in which Palestinian leaders speak to the Israeli public in video clips, telling Israelis that there is a Palestinian partner for an agreement. Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee Yasser Abed Rabbo and Fatah Central Committee member Jibril Rajoub have recorded short messages: "I am your partner. Are you my partner?" In the clips, the Palestinians speak about what they label missed opportunities, and ensuing disappointments as well as potential perils of missing the current opportunity to reach an agreement based on the two-state solution."

UPI adds that:

The US government was approached to fund the campaign by the Geneva Initiative founders, who drew up an agreement in 2003 to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The US Agency for International Development, or USAID, invested close to $250,000 toward the creation of the billboards."

In a previous post at Greenlined (as well as this one) I took note of the practice of the Consulate-General of the United States in Jerusalem, which oversees all diplomatic activity in the capital, both east and west, in addition to the territories of Judea and Samaria, to simply ignore the Jews residing in the area. The President of NOW visited Israel, but was not introduced to religious women -some I know to be fierce feminists - rather only spoke with Israeli activists in Tel Aviv, whom I will make an educated guess did not exactly express support for Jewish residency across the Green Line.

(Read full post)

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Your Tax Dollars at Work

Todd Warnick
Jerusalem Central
29 August '10

The problem isn't necessarily the US Government supporting a 2-state solution - though one would think that this is an inappropriate use of taxpayer money and USAID funds - but look how they're doing it: a big picture of 7 leaders of the Palestinian Authority with the caption: "We're Partners. And You?". This begs the question, of course: Do you think there is a similar campaign at work all over Judea, Samaria and Gaza, i.e. pictures of Bibi, Barak, Lieberman and the rest of the 7 members of the Inner Cabinet that says in Arabic: "We're Partners. And You?" The answer is rather obvious. More inappropriate meddling by foreign governments in Israel - at least a new law going through the Knesset a la the US Foreign Agents Registration Act would make this kind of funding more transparent.

Here is also the link to the Geneva Initiative web site indicating as well support from USAID, which has provided "US economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for more than 40 years". As to the story in today's Yediot Ahronot, p.7:

(Read full post)

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Is a Palestinian State even Possible?

Sultan Knish

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com

09 November 09

Last week Obama phoned Abbas, the chairman of the PLO terrorist organization and of the US taxpayer subsidized Palestinian Authority, which is run by the PLO. Obama's first phone call to a foreign leader after taking office had been to Abbas, and his latest phone call was meant to reassure the terrorist leader that despite the complete lack of progress, he was still committed to creating a Palestinian state.

There is of course no question that the United States is deeply committed to creating a Palestinian state. The United States has provided billions to the PLO's Palestinian Authority through USAID alone, and billions more through various other channels, including the UNRWA and a collection of other agencies. The first Bush Administration forced Israel to negotiate directly with the PLO. The Clinton Administration created the Palestinian Authority inside Israel, armed and trained its terrorist militias and funded them from top to bottom. Four Presidents have made creating a Palestinian state a major priority of their administrations. More so than freeing Tibet or creating a country for any particular group, not counting the Clinton Administration's war on behalf of a Muslim Kosovar Albanian state, who rewarded us with slave trafficking, terrorism and burning down every church they could find.

The question now however is whether a Palestinian state is even possible? For one thing there is no longer a single Palestinian state, but two states, one run by Hamas in Gaza, and a second run by Abbas in the West Bank, despite the fact that his term in office legally ended around the time Obama was sworn in. The Obama Administration nevertheless continues to fund Abbas, even though under the rules that the US helped set up, he has no right to hold office without an election.

For another thing, both the West Bank and Gaza are run by dueling militias composed of PLO and Hamas terrorists. Iran and Syria fund the Hamas militias, while the US and the EU fund the PLO militias. While Iran is more open about simply calling them terrorists, the US State Department calls them "police" and provides them with weapons and training. The militias work for whichever faction or sub-faction is paying them at the moment. In between they do "odd jobs" such as drug dealing, kidnapping and the old protection racket-- a major reason why all the plans for outside investment in the PA quickly collapsed into nothing.

(Continue reading...)

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