Natan Sharansky and Bassem Eid (founder of the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group in East Jerusalem), writing in today’s Wall Street Journal on a “tragic peace process [that] turned to farce”:
Israel, America and the free world share much of the blame for this fiasco. As Arafat and his Fatah party were busy hollowing out Palestinian civil society and turning control of the Palestinian economy over to corrupt cronies, the world showered them with money and diplomatic support. Hundreds of millions of dollars were transferred to Arafat's private slush fund so that he could "strengthen" his standing among the Palestinians. . . .
Last November's Annapolis "peace" conference continued this misguided approach. Once again the focus is primarily on who is ruling and not on how they rule. Mr. Abbas has replaced Arafat as the recipient of international largess, but the emphasis remains on empowering a particular leader, rather than empowering Palestinian civil society and creating democratic institutions.
. . . Since the beginning of the second intifada in September 2000, internecine violence has reached unprecedented heights. According to the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, the death toll includes: 122 killed in the streets (suspected collaborators), 41 by capital punishment, 34 honor killings, 48 stabbed to death, seven beaten to death, 258 killed under mysterious circumstances and 818 cases of gunfire. So far no one has been charged let alone tried for any of these unlawful killings.
Where is the money that was supposedly spent on reforming the judicial system?
Since the money involved is American money, one would think a Democratic Congress, which has done little since 2006 but investigate, might want to investigate.
ADDENDUM: Here's a headstart for any Congressional committee that cares, from a blogger who has spent more time on this to date than Congress: "Where Has All the Money Gone?"