Sunday, January 22, 2006
Well this is interesting. The US is spending $2 million to help the PA's Fatah to look better coming in to the elections in the hope that they can keep up appearances against Hamas. There are a lot of angles here. First it's rather laughable that Palestine is such a false construct that we actually have to do the public projects and PR for them directly because they can't do it themselves -- either due to corruption or desire. Second, we're propping up the best of a bad lot that still preaches incitement and works against our goals -- a pattern we've seen before where we believe if we just help them a little bit more, this time a leader who's for peace will emerge. Third, and certainly not the end of the discussion you could have with this, one will remember the furor over supposed American manipulation of Iraqi public opinion, well this is far more direct than that. Why isn't this a front page scandal in the Globe...a story of American manipulation of foreign electoral behavior?
Anyway, bad idea, immoral idea or necessary realpolitik, here's the story...
US program tries to boost Fatah - $2m foreign aid seeks to reduce vote for Hamas
The approximately $2 million program is being led by a division of the US Agency for International Development. But no US government logos appear with the projects or events being undertaken as part of the campaign, which bears no evidence of American involvement and does not fall within the definitions of traditional development work.
US officials say their low profile is meant to ensure that the Palestinian Authority receives public credit for a collection of small, popular projects and events to be unveiled before Palestinians select their first parliament in a decade. Internal documents outlining the program, designed with the help of a former US Army Special Forces officer who worked in postwar Afghanistan on democracy-building projects, describe the effort as ''a temporary paradigm shift" in the way the aid agency operates.
US and Palestinian officials say they fear the election, scheduled for Wednesday, will result in a large Hamas presence in the 132-seat legislature.
Hamas, formally known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, is at war with Israel and is classified by the US government as a terrorist organization. But its reputation for competence and accountability in providing social services has made it a stiff rival of the secular Fatah movement, which runs the Palestinian Authority and has long been the largest party in the Palestinian territories.
The plan's $2 million budget, although a tiny fraction of USAID's work here, is likely more than any Palestinian party will have spent by election day. A media consultant for Hamas said the organization would likely spend less than $1 million on its campaign.
Elements of the US-funded program include a street-cleaning campaign, distributing free food and water to Palestinians at border crossings, donating computers to community centers, and sponsoring a national youth soccer tournament. US officials are coordinating the program through Rafiq Husseini, chief of staff to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president and Fatah leader.
In recent days, Arabic-language papers have been filled with US-funded advertisements announcing the events in the name of the Palestinian Authority, which the public closely identifies with Fatah. Some of the events, like a US-financed tree-planting ceremony here in Ramallah that Abbas attended last week, have resembled Fatah rallies, with participants wearing the trademark black-and-white kaffiyehs emblazoned with the party logo...
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007854