"If the Israelis, Americans and Europeans prefer to deal with Hamas rather than Mahmoud Abbas and Fayyad, they need only continue their current policies. And if they then find themselves unhappy with a new Islamist-dominated Palestinian national movement, they can rest assured they sat by and watched it happen in real time, and did absolutely nothing to stop it." Hussein Ibish

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani arrive to a ceremony in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. (Mohammed Salem-Pool / Getty Images)

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/24/hamas-rising.html

Hamas Rising?

by Hussein Ibish Oct 24, 2012 10:45 AM EDT 

Is everyone conspiring to undermine the Palestinian Authority and promote Hamas? This morning, in the context of yesterday's visit of the Emir of Qatar to Gaza, with his pledges of massive financial and diplomatic support, it sure looks that way.

 

The biggest threat to the PA is a fiscal crisis originating in its quixotic U.N. membership bid of September 2012, which produced a confrontation with its main donors, particularly the United States.

The PA requires approximately $1 billion in external funding annually. The biggest individual donor has been the United States, and the biggest collective one the European Union. As a result of the inevitable failure at the U.N. last year, aid to the PA from both has dropped to approximately half of its previous level. And half of the remaining American aid, $200 million, remains on congressional hold. Meanwhile, numerous Arab states have failed to meet their own pledges.

The result is that the institution-building program led by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is paralyzed. Public employee salaries are being paid piecemeal, services cut and taxes increased. The cost of living has shot through the roof. All of this has killed the promise that responsible governance could provide a measure of hope at a time of diplomatic impasse. Palestinians can no longer reasonably expect improvements in their quality of life even if they have to wait for progress towards independence.

The inevitable consequence has been the destabilization and discrediting of the PA, and real questions about its stability and future...READ MORE