Israeli Minister: The PA Will Not Survive
JERUSALEM, Israel – Immigrant and Absorption Minister Ze'ev Elkin said the P.A. will very likely fold despite Israel's best efforts.
"The breakdown of the P.A. is not a question of 'if' but 'when,'" Elkin said during a presentation at Bar Ilan University Monday morning.
"The ones who will have to pay the price for anarchy in the P.A. are Israeli citizens, particularly the communities in Judea and Samaria," he said. "We must prepare for even worse attacks," Arutz Sheva quoted Elkin as saying.
The billions in international aid will not prevent its collapse, Elkin said. It is merely propping up a system that cannot sustain itself. He called the Oslo Accords a "mistaken concept."
"The international community must also stop trying to strengthen the Palestinian Authority because it is just an attempt at resuscitation that will blow up in our faces," he said.
"The Palestinian Authority was born with Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas], who initiated and pushed for Oslo, and the P.A. will disappear with Abu Mazen when he goes," Elkin said.
The Oslo Accords were signed on the White House lawn in 1993 in the presence of former U.S. President Bill Clinton, as a confidence-building measure between Israel and the Palestinians. Since then, the P.A. has been sustained by billions in international aid.
"We erred when we brought the PLO leadership from Tunis," Elkin said. "We erred when we thought they will deal with terrorism and incitement, and we erred in allowing them to run – without supervision – their educational systems and media and sermons in the mosques."
The result is a brainwashed generation, imbued with hatred by their government, in their schools and mosques. Rectifying the situation will require substantial behind-the-scenes efforts to rehabilitate a generation jaded by its own leaders.
Elkin said even if the P.A. holds elections, it won't change anything. Regardless of the outcome, the world will blame Israel if the P.A. collapses.
"There's no doubt this is a ticking bomb that can still be dismantled if only we can wake up in time," he said.
Last week, Israel transferred $128 million in tax and customs revenues to the Palestinian Authority, in part to prevent a potential collapse.
Israel withheld the transfer, as it has in the past, to apply some of the funds to the huge deficit the P.A. owes Israeli utility companies. But according to some analysts, without the revenues, the Palestinian Authority was facing imminent collapse.
In a further bid to help the beleaguered government, Israel issued thousands of additional work permits for Arabs, which went into effect Sunday, the first day of the work week.
Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon believe that providing fulltime job opportunities will help alleviate the situation.
According to this thinking, Arabs who are gainfully employed are less likely to revert to terrorism.
