Shhhhhh.... don't tell!!!! or... The myth of Hamastan

Abba Eban, former president of Israel once said about the so called Palestinians "They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity".

As you know from an earlier post, I had hopes for the new government that Mahmoud Abbas installed, thinking he was finally going to confront Hamas and his own Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade.

There is a dirty little secret that the world does not want anyone to know.

Israel, even in the midst of this constant war provides all of the basic services to the so called Palestinians, and in the territories.

Water, power, gas, etc. In addition, they collect the requisite taxes on these and things like sales taxes, import duties, etc.

The Palestinian Authority has no capacity for this, even more than a decade after it's establishment under the so Oslo accords. So Israel collects the taxes and transfers them to the Palestinian authority.

Now, this is one of the Orwellian facets of this conflict. That's right, the Israelis have turned over hundreds of millions of dollars in order for them to buy the weapons used to kill Israelis!!

After Hamas won the elections last year, the Israelis said that they would not turn the money over to Hamas. They refused to recognize a government with them involved.

So, after the split the last few weeks, a decision was made to try and prop up Abbas and the new government. The tax money, well over $100 million dollars was turned over to Abbas.

It was thought, and written in virtually every media outlet, that the so called Palestinians were now living as two separate entities, or would be.

It made sense. The Gazans are largely Egyptian, as Gaza was an Egyptian territory, certainly from 1948 to 1967. The West Bank residents are Jordanian.

So, the split seemed somewhat natural.

In addition those of us willing to speak honestly over the years, have always maintained that there could never be a bifurcated Palestinian state divided geographically by Israel. It just simply could not work geographically.

So, what is the first thing that Abbas does when he receives the money from Israel? He pays the Palestinian Authority employees in Gaza!!! Whether they are Hamas operatives or Fatah, does not matter.

By paying them off, Abbas is doing a number of things that immediately both destroy his credibility, YET AGAIN, as a "partner for peace". He shows that he does not have the guts to truly isolate Hamas. He holds out this olive branch to them.

He also, and perhaps more dangerously to Israel, gives Hamas the opportunity to continue to spend it's money on the bombs, missiles and other weapons they use to kill Israelis rather than having to pay civil employees.

Once again, they have not failed to miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.