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Finally, Some Palestinian Responsibility

(Jerusalem Post) Einat Wilf - The participation of PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad Tuesday at the 2010 Herzliya Conference points to the possibility of a deeper cultural change among the Palestinians. The Palestinian national movement has been characterized from its early days by a maddening culture of irresponsibility. As far as they were concerned, their circumstances were never the outcome of their decisions, actions or conduct. It was always someone else's fault - the UK, the UN, the Arab countries, and of course above all, the Zionists and their occupation. No matter the issue, the finger was permanently pointed outward. The Palestinians conducted themselves as eternal teenagers, incapable of moving past blaming others toward shaping their own lives. But it just might be that recently, below the radar, a revolutionary change is underway. For several years now, several players under the sound leadership of General Dayton, Tony Blair and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, were working together to build a Palestinian state from the ground up. Fayyad graduated from the University of Texas rather than Israeli jails, and it is Fayyad and his colleagues who have taken the matter of municipal taxes and sewage seriously and have approached the building of a state with determination and energy. The more this process moves forward and succeeds, the more the cultural change accelerates and deepens. A dour bureaucrat is leading a revolutionary cultural change of fostering responsibility among Palestinians. This change is leaving Israelis, who have long grown accustomed to Palestinians who do nothing but blame the world for their circumstances all the while wasting numerous opportunities, wondering, confused and many - hopeful. Dr. Einat Wilf, a Senior Fellow with the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, entered the Knesset on Jan. 10, 2010, for the Labor party.
2010-02-03 08:15:55
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