Photo Courtesy of UN Photo/Marco Castro
Well, that didn’t last long. Just weeks on the job, new Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah has resigned. The quick turnover after previous Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad had also resigned raises questions about the stability of the Palestinian government. That should raise eyebrows about giving them your tax dollars in aid, not to mention concerns about the peace process with Israel.
The Ma’an News Agency reported that PM Rami Hamdallah left in the wake of arguments with two of his deputies. While claiming it wasn’t due to tension with President Mahmoud Abbas, it’s looking like a TV political drama—which doesn’t boost confidence in the Palestinian leadership.
That’s important for you, because the US and Europe have sent hundreds of millions of dollars to the Palestinians in aid, and there has been a debate in the US about what funds to give them. In addition, the US has recently been pushing for progress in Israel-Palestinian peace negotiations as well. But with the Palestinians unable to even run their own affairs, it doesn’t look like they would be stable enough to reach a historic deal with Israel.
So for now, with all the other chaos in the region, it may be time for the West to focus its attention elsewhere for now. Along those lines, you may want to let your parliament or Congress representatives know your thoughts on sending your tax money to support the Palestinian government at this time.
Ma’an has reported that Hamdallah is expected to stay on as caretaker prime minister until August 10, with the Palestinians hoping to have set in place by then a unity government between the two main political factions, Hamas and Fatah. The two groups have been divided since 2007 and despite a number of talks, have yet to fully implement a reconciliation agreement. And even if they united, that still wouldn’t be good news for you, since Hamas is a terrorist group and would once again be running a good portion of the Palestinian government.
All in all, it’s just not a good time right now for Palestinian politics.
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, June 23, 2013)