RAMALLAH, Jan. 20 (JMCC) - As US envoy George Mitchell comes to visit the region, Palestinians should prepare for their government to acquiesce, writes Sami Abdel Shafi in bitterlemons.org.
Nevertheless, the Palestinian Authority will eventually have no option but to resume negotiations for it has entirely relied on what is largely political funding from abroad. One of the ironies of Palestinian politics is the difference between how the PA started off and how it operates now. After the PA was first established in 1994, it received substantial funding that allowed it plenty of space to govern and run Palestinian affairs as it saw fit. However, several of its key figures at that time allegedly misused this latitude and the PA grew to typify a corrupt regime. Today, the PA is in much better position to govern with integrity but has, unfortunately, weakened its ability to decide its own affairs because it allowed itself to depend on political funding from abroad.
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