The Grift That Never Ends: How Western Aid Fuels Palestinian Dysfunction

You hear a lot of talk these days about how Israel is to blame for the suffering of the Palestinians. It’s the occupation, the blockades, the settlements, the military checkpoints. And sure, those things exist — some of them are morally complicated, some less so. But if you zoom out and look honestly at the bigger picture, the real source of the Palestinian tragedy isn’t Israel.

It’s the Palestinians.

Or rather, the people who claim to lead them.

The truth — uncomfortable though it may be for polite society — is that Palestinian political life is dominated by gangsters, thugs, and grifters, all riding high on a steady stream of Western and Gulf money. Without that endless IV drip of donor cash from the U.S., the EU, Qatar, and the UN, the entire thing would collapse — and maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

Because what we have now isn’t governance. It’s a parody of it.

Two Governments, No Responsibility

Let’s just state the obvious: Palestinians don’t have a functioning government. They have two competing factions that each claim to speak for the people, neither of which has won a legitimate election in nearly two decades.

In the West Bank, there’s the Palestinian Authority, a bloated, corrupt bureaucracy run by Mahmoud Abbas — a man currently in the 20th year of a 4-year term. He’s surrounded by cronies, funded by Western aid, protected by Israeli security cooperation, and accountable to no one.

In Gaza, there’s Hamas — a terrorist group in control of a government that it seized in a bloody coup in 2007. These guys don’t pretend to be democrats. They run Gaza like a prison camp, spend foreign aid on weapons, and use civilians as human shields while launching rockets at Israeli cities. And they get rewarded with “humanitarian assistance” every time the place explodes.

This is not a system. It’s a racket.

Government by Gunpoint

Political power in Palestinian society isn’t achieved through elections, institutions, or negotiation. It’s achieved through violence.

Whoever has the guns makes the rules. Hamas proved it by taking Gaza at gunpoint. The PA proves it every day by arresting dissidents and beating up journalists while keeping their own people in check with Israel’s quiet help. Even in supposedly moderate cities like Ramallah or Nablus, much of the actual power lies with armed militias and clan-based gangs.

It’s not self-rule. It’s warlordism in suits and press releases, funded by Europe and underwritten by the U.N.

The Aid Trap

You know what enables all this? Us.

Western money is the fuel that keeps this garbage fire burning. It props up a fake economy in the West Bank, lets Hamas rebuild after every war, and prevents any real reckoning with the consequences of their leadership.

Why reform when failure pays?

Why build a real economy when donor conferences are easier?

Why negotiate when perpetual grievance brings in the grants?

A Better Way — Or At Least a Different One

Here’s a thought: Pull the plug. No more blank checks, no more aid without strings.

Tell the PA: You want help? Then get serious. Work with Israel to reenter Gaza, dismantle Hamas — not with speeches, but with boots on the ground — and start governing like adults.

Then — and only then — can the U.S. and others step in to help you rebuild. But this time, there has to be accountability. Real elections. Real institutions. A real plan to grow an economy, not just another UNRWA jobs program.

Or if that’s too tall an order, go with the other plan — the Emirates model.

A group of Palestinian thinkers and Gulf partners have floated the idea of breaking up the Palestinian territories into smaller, self-governing city-states or emirates, each one locally governed and economically integrated with Israel and its neighbors.

One Palestinian commentator in the Wall Street Journal, now based in Geneva, panned the idea as colonial “divide and rule.” Maybe. But somebody has to rule. Because what we’ve got now is anarchy dressed up as nationalism.

And if the Palestinians can’t or won’t unify and reform, maybe decentralizing is the only realistic path forward.

Gaza Isn’t Just a Tragedy — It’s a Choice

Let’s be honest. Letting Hamas run Gaza for the past 17 years has been a disaster — not just for Israel, but for Palestinians, Arabs, and frankly, the whole world. Everyone’s screaming about Gaza, and it’s a territory no bigger than Chicago. The fact that it has become a global obsession tells you how badly this has been mismanaged.

Hamas is not a liberation movement. It’s a criminal enterprise wrapped in a flag.

The PA is not a government. It’s a donor-financed bureaucracy posing as a state.

And Palestinian political life is not democratic. It’s a prolonged shakedown operation, with the West picking up the tab and pretending it’s progress.

Time to Cut the Cord

Maybe the only way to force change is to stop paying for the dysfunction. Let the people who claim to represent the Palestinians actually step up and do something — or step aside and let new structures take shape.

Either way, it’s long past time we stopped subsidizing failure.

Because if there’s one thing that should be clear by now, it’s this:

The problem isn’t Israel.

The problem is that the Palestinians can’t — or won’t — get their own house in order.

And until that changes, no amount of money or sympathy will ever make a difference