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Source: https://jcpa.org/what-will-the-state-of-palestine-look-like/
What Will the "State of Palestine" Look Like?
(Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs) Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch - As the French, British, Canadians, and Australians rush to recognize the "State of Palestine," what would it look like? Based on the experience to date, the "State of Palestine" would most likely be another dictatorship. In the Oslo Accords, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) committed to establishing a liberal democracy. In practice, in thirty years, the PA has only ever held two elections for the position of chairman (1996 and 2005) and two elections for the parliament (1996 and 2006). The 2006 parliamentary elections ended with a landslide victory for Hamas, the genocidal terrorist organization that executed the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. Over the last 30 years, the international community has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to promote human rights in the PA, yet it is unclear what exactly has been achieved. Between 2007 and 2023, the EU donated 1.81 billion euros to promote "gender equality" - yet women in the PA still face institutionalized discrimination. Perpetrators of "honor killings," in which a male kills his female relative based on a suspicion of impropriety, are still prevalent. The "State of Palestine" will also inevitably become an economic train wreck. For the last 30 years, the PA has existed on handouts from the international community. Domestic tax revenue accounted for only 22% of the PA's total revenue. The Palestinian economy is almost entirely dependent on trade with Israel; 85-90% of PA exports are sold to Israel. The PA never developed its domestic economy, and the Palestinian workforce was heavily dependent on working in Israel. The writer, former director of the Military Prosecution in Judea and Samaria, is director of the Palestinian Authority Accountability Initiative at the Jerusalem Center.