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\nThe Biden administration\u2019s ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said this week \u201cit is essential that the Palestinian Authority work to reform itself and that it do so as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
But when it comes to the P.A., \u201cas quickly as possible\u201d means years, decades or perhaps never.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve been hearing for more than seven months that the P.A. needs to be \u201creformed\u201d and \u201crevitalized.\u201d There is no evidence that the P.A. has moved in that direction. Nonetheless, Biden administration officials keep repeating their \u201crevitalization\u201d formula as if it were realistic, probable or even already underway.<\/p>\n
U.S. President Joe Biden launched the \u201creformed P.A.\u201d idea in an op-ed in The Washington Post on Nov. 18. \u201cAs we strive for peace,\u201d he wrote, \u201cGaza and the West Bank should be reunited under a single governance structure, ultimately under a revitalized Palestinian Authority, as we all work toward a two-state solution.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biden didn\u2019t explain what this \u201crevitalization\u201d might consist of and administration officials have never spelled it out. That\u2019s because it was never meant as a serious policy proposal. It\u2019s a way of making the administration\u2019s Palestinian statehood plan sound reasonable and feasible. In other words, it\u2019s a marketing strategy.<\/p>\n
If the Biden administration genuinely insisted on a \u201creformed\u201d or \u201crevitalized\u201d P.A., here are the minimal steps required to realize the idea:<\/p>\n
– P.A. leader Mahmoud Abbas, who is now serving the 19th year of his four-year term, would have to resign.
\nDemocratic elections would have to be held in the P.A.-controlled territories.<\/p>\n
– The P.A. would have to stop committing wanton civil rights violations, torture of dissidents and other abuses. It would also have to stop persecuting minorities and tolerating \u201chonor killings\u201d of Muslim women.<\/p>\n
– The P.A. would have to stop paying salaries and other financial rewards to imprisoned terrorists and the families of dead terrorists.<\/p>\n
– The P.A. would have to change the names of hundreds of streets and schools that are named after terrorists.<\/p>\n
– The P.A. would have to extradite terrorists to Israel; arrest and imprison terrorists; disarm, outlaw and expel terrorist groups, many connected to the P.A.; and halt anti-Jewish incitement\u2014all of which are required by the Oslo Accords.<\/p>\n
Does anyone really expect any of this to happen? Of course not. Moreover, the White House and the State Department know it will never happen. That\u2019s why they came up with the sham terms \u201creformed P.A.\u201d and \u201crevitalized P.A.,\u201d which sound nice but mean nothing.<\/p>\n
Last March, Abbas replaced some of his cabinet ministers, which he periodically does for various internal P.A. reasons. Naturally, the U.S. State Department jumped on the news in hopes of boosting its plan to create a Palestinian state that will be run by a \u201creformed P.A.\u201d<\/p>\n
Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the Biden administration was looking forward to working with the new group of ministers \u201cto deliver on credible reforms\u201d because \u201ca revitalized P.A. is essential to delivering results for the Palestinian people in both the West Bank and Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was three months ago. Clearly, the reform and revitalization that Miller applauded didn\u2019t amount to much, since Thomas-Greenfield is still prattling on about the need for the P.A. \u201cto reform itself and that it do so as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s time for Biden, Miller and Thomas-Greenfield to admit the truth: There never was any real plan to \u201creform\u201d or \u201crevitalize\u201d the P.A. The entire idea is just a ploy to impose a Palestinian state on the Israelis. Friends of Israel can see right through it.<\/p>\n
— MOSHE PHILLIPS: Moshe Phillips is a commentator on Jewish affairs whose writings appear regularly in the American and Israeli press. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Biden administration\u2019s ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said this week \u201cit is essential that the Palestinian Authority work to reform itself and that it do so as quickly as possible.\u201d But when it comes to the P.A., \u201cas quickly as possible\u201d means years, decades or perhaps never. We\u2019ve been hearing for more<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":38196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_rtcl_gb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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