Despite American statements that a hostage deal is “close”, it really isn’t. Also, despite American pressure, the reason isn’t Israel, it’s Hamas leader Yihyah Sinwar. The kidnap victims of Hamas terror can not be freed by American diplomacy (appeasement) any more than Chamberlain could stop Hitler. Hamas still sees America as a weak (nearly powerless) player that can be exploited to their own advantage.
That said, I want to return to the thread I was pursuing last week, this time with regard to the European Union. The EU provides special training or Palestinians to prepare themselves for real independence. They’ve been doing this for years. The Palestinian Authority is only too happy to receive this aid. There are 2 primary EU missions assigned to training the Palestinian Police. One is EUCOPSS. It has a budget of 13M Euros per year and pays for 71 police experts and 35 local employees to help train the PA Police in how to do their jobs. Like many other projects aimed at “helping”, COPSS tries to be useful, but the political leadership they pretend to be assisting just use them as a source of funding that keeps some of the local supporters employed. The Palestinian Authority has been around for a long time. They still don’t know how to run an honest government. The EU (and the UN, and the US) keep giving them funds in order to stave off governmental collapse. It isn’t difficult to distract Palestinian Arabs with tales (mostly, but sadly, not all, false) of Israeli “Occupation”. This is especially true when the PA controls the local media.
This is not a new story. In 1917 General Allenby allowed Emir Feisal to take Damascus. It was only a short time before the Arab lack of experience in providing governmental services forced the British to step in. This pattern continued during the mandate. The Jews built a shadow government (The Jewish Agency) that could replace the British. The Palestinian Arabs did not. The current Palestinian Authority still relies on Israel for a lot of administrative tasks. Corruption combined with foolish policy regularly leaves the PA unable to pay government workers salaries without donations from wealthier countries.
Wetherhorn 