Is the Pali Party Over?

Among the best hopes for Israel's strategic withdrawal from the Gaza Strip were that it might (a) provide Israel with more defensible borders; and (b) focus attention on the failures of governance among the Palestinian Arabs, themselves, rather than on the occupation.  This would hopefully bring more pressure to bear for reform among the Palis, thus giving Israel some breathing room in the court of world opinion. 

If the latter objective fails, then the whole exercise will be a wasted effort (unless, of course, the Palis overplay their hand, in which case Israel has a strong case for re-occupying the region).

There is at least some indication that the usual suspects are coming around:

"The Palestinians are receiving more aid per capita than any other people on the face of the earth, and we want to see some proper response," Howells said, hinting at a decrease of economic aid if the Palestinians don't fight terror.

"I thought the retaliation this week was proportionate," said Howells about the IDF operations. "The [Palestinian] attack was a very serious one, it could have killed a lot of people. It's a miracle really there weren't more casualties." . . .

"We are waiting with bated breath for a response from the PA," said Howells, "and it has to be a signal that it is capable of good governance. This is not a bottomless pit that this money is coming from."

Howells dismissed PA claims that it doesn't have the wherewithal to effectively take on Hamas and the other terrorist organizations. "Look, they have 60,000 troops in the PA, they have all the equipment they need. What they need is the political will to do it," he said.

This is strong language by diplomatic standards.  One hopes that the pressure keeps up and that diplomats don't resort to taking some pro-forma example of PA cooperation as a signal that Israel "must do more."

(Via LGF)