As American citizens, it is our civic duty to pay taxes. Taxes are “charges of money imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes.” The United States government provides its citizens with goods and services that are used every day here in the United States. Being that we pay taxes, it is only fair that we know exactly where the funds are being diverted since we are in fact being provided a service. Taxpayers often find themselves asking “Is the tax price for the goods and services government provides worth it or not?” (Peters, 2015, p. 244) There are several categories as to where our tax dollars are allocated including, health, social security, military, defense, income security, veterans’ benefits and interest on the national debt. One controversial element of social expenditures is foreign aid, specifically to the Palestinian Authority (PA). The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) represents the Palestinian people and runs the PA. Democrats and Republicans often times disagree on this issue as to how much foreign aid we should be sending to the PA and whether the aid is effective or not. Since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1994, we have been sending roughly $600 million a year to the PA (Times of Israel, 2018). In more recent years under the Trump administration, aid to the PA has been cut by almost $200 million (New York Times, 2018). What exactly is this money used for? Is it truly being used for humanitarian efforts or does this money fund terrorism in the PA? Funding to the PA has caused spillover problems with target and non-target groups in both Israel and the PA. First, we need to have a better understanding on what exactly is happening within the region in order to better assist financially and to also be sure that the money being sent over is actually beneficial and not causing spillover problems. Next, we need to evaluate the impact of the aid. With a republican administration in office, support for Israel is greater than it has ever been under any other administration democratic or republican. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has turned into a partisan issue today in America, when it should in fact be a human rights issue. Both Israeli and Palestinian people are hurting due to the power struggle for land. We see the rise of policy and action in favor of Israel under the current administration. For example, the U.S. embassy opening in Jerusalem, more spending going to Israel, and spending being cut to the PA. The money that continues to go to the PA despite the political tension is still very large and still brings us to the question, is this foreign aid being placed into the right hands?
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been an ongoing battle for a few decades now. In a nutshell the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a battle over who has rightful ownership of the land of Israel, the Palestinians or the Jewish people. Since the Second World War there has been a large amount of Jewish immigration to all parts of the globe. Some Jewish people found their way back to their home of Israel, this caused tension with the Palestinians who had at the time claimed the land as their own. After Israel gained independence in 1948, few Palestinians stayed in Israel and became refugees while a majority fled to what is now Gaza and the West Bank. Wars began to break out in response to the fight for the land, such as the Arab-Israeli war. Each group has a religious connection to the land and use that argument in their reasoning on why one another should be the inhabitants today. Both people just want what they believe is theirs. The Palestinians fight every single day by any means necessary including violence and of course Israel retaliates in order to protect its people. This ongoing fight for land is costly and tragic to both sides yet still continues despite countless efforts for peace. But how much does this ongoing battle really cost?
In the 1990’s Palestinians were able to gain back some land, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Under this take back there needed to be some sort of governing power. Many factions emerged in response to the need of a government the main two being Hamas and Fatah. Fatah is “both a political party and guerrilla organization, and, along with Hamas, is a dominant political force in Palestinian politics” (Institute for Middle East Understanding, 2005). The Hamas party was elected into office in January of 2006 thus establishing an informal Palestinian government. Hamas does not wish for peace but for the total destruction and annihilation of the Jewish people. “There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad” (Hamas Charter, Article 13). Jihad is defined as a struggle or fight against any and all enemies of Islam. Hamas will not stop until they remove the Jewish people from the land of Israel, they do not wish for peace or a two-state solution, it is even stated in their charter. “The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: 'O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.” (Article 7). The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is one of the largest contributors for the PA which is funded by the United Nations (UN). The UN is comprised of 193 countries that strive to maintain international peace and security (UN Mission Statement, 2018). The UN often times is seen as being anti-Israel. Since its created in 2006, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has released over 103 resolutions over half of which criticize Israel while ignoring the actions of Hamas (Time, 2014). The United States in a part of this process of funding that is supposed to go to the PA. Money to the PA is supposed to be used for humanitarian efforts such as food, water and medical supplies. Hamas intercepts this funding in order to manipulate and use the Palestinian people to further their extremist agenda by having the impoverished people in the area commit acts of terror in exchange for compensation. For example, the town of Sederot in Israel which borders the Gaza Strip and is under constant fire by missiles and kite bombs. There are bomb shelters on elementary school playgrounds, in houses and at all bus stops. Once the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) detects a missile alerts go off in order to inform citizens of the threat. This gives people exactly 15 seconds to seek shelter once the alerts are sounded. Kite bombs are used to target children, kite bombs are bombs that are attached to balloons or kites and sent to populated areas most of the time playgrounds or schools. These are just a few ways in which terror is used to scare off the Israeli people from their homes and the land. These cruel methods are executed by poor Palestinians who are incentivized by Hamas. For some Palestinians this is the only form of income available. 25 percent of the entire population inside of the territory lives below the poverty level and 27 percent of Palestinians are unemployed (Borgen Project, 2017). This data proves to us that the Palestinian Territories are more susceptible to failure being that there is no true democracy, no official government, and no true police or defense force. Instead, violence and terror are used as methods to gain power within the region. The PA pays $350 million to terrorist and their families each year in exchange for completing acts of terrorism and violence (Washington Post, 2018). Hamas has taken the lives of many people under its reign began in 2006 including Israelis, Palestinians and Americans. Taylor Force being one of the most known today here in the United States. Taylor Force was an American citizen and Army Veteran who was killed in a stabbing spree in Jaffa Port, Tel Aviv, Israel by a 21-year-old man from the West Bank. Ten others were also wounded during this attack in March of 2016. This event sparked a turning point of the allocation of funds to the PA. What is now known as the Taylor Force Act has been implemented by congress. The Taylor Force act “(1) calls on the Palestinian Authority's (PA) to stop making payments to terrorists in Israeli prisons and to the families of deceased terrorists, (2) calls on countries to cease providing direct budgetary assistance to the PA until it stops all payments incentivizing terror, (3) urges the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations (U.N.) and the Department of State to highlight the issue and urge other nations to call for an end to such payments, and (4) expresses support for creation of a general welfare system for all Palestinian citizens.” Checks and Balances are used in this process in order to be sure that this policy is being implemented. Section four of the Taylor Force Act lists four steps that must be certified in order for the PA to gain assistance (115th Congress, 2017-2018). This ties into the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 which states that the United States will stay committed to assisting countries in need. One of the five goals states, “the promotion of good governance through combating corruption and improving transparency and accountability” (Foreign Assistance Act of 1961). Being that the act states this, it further proves that we must hold the PA and Hamas accountable for their actions and make sure that the funding being sent over is no longer used for the wrong reasons such as violence and terror. The United States gives aid to the PA annually and each year we have seen an increase of foreign aid to the region since 1993. This chart represents the amount of aid
1993: 178,740,000
1994: 471,980,000
1995: 514,110,000
1996: 552,410,000
1997: 613,030,000
1998: 612,570,000
1999: 580,550,000 2000: 684,500,000
2001: 997,590,000
2002: 971,610,000
2003: 1,041,840,000
2004: 1,160,840,000
2005: 1,015,710,000
2006: 1,360,250,000 2007: 1,717,110,000
2008: 2,470,080,000
2009: 2,826,680,000
2010: 2,518,700,000
2011: 2,441,970,000
2012: 2,011,430,000
2013: 2,610,410,000
aid distributed in U.S. Dollars from 1993 to 2013 (World Bank, 2013).
With the increase of funding throughout the recent years, there is a greater chance for Hamas to pay terrorists and their families. Being that this is occurring, President Trump has cut spending to the PA by over $200 million during his time in office and has fought to make sure funding is used for the greater good and not for violence and terror. One of the major bills passed was included within the Taylor Force Act, which cut $1.3 trillion of foreign aid to the PA until they promised to end stipends for terror convicts and for families of slain attackers. There are some exceptions that exclude some of these cuts such as, US funding to Palestinian water and childhood vaccination programs and to East Jerusalem hospitals. Funding going to water, childhood vaccination programs and to East Jerusalem hospitals are directly sent and are not diverted by Hamas. If we focused on more direct transactions like these, it would make it more difficult for Hamas to get their hands on the foreign aid and acts of terror could potentially decrease.