The Taylor Force Act of 2018 is a very important piece of legislation which speaks volume about the present US Policies against Palestine. In March this year the US Congress gave the last nod to a massive 1.3 trillion spending bill that included as a rider to the Taylor Force Act. What is it about? It is a condition to cut aid to Palestinians until they end supporting Palestinian prisoners and the families of Palestinian martyrs. It is only the tip of the iceberg. The big aim of the Trump Administration is to pauperize the Palestinians so as to coerce them into accepting a toothless Palestinian State without Jerusalem as the capital.
It must be noted that previous American Administrators from Harry Truman up to Barack Obama have never engaged in systematically trying to destroy the fabric of the Palestinian State.
Last week the Trump Administration cut more than 200 million dollars in aid for the West Bank and Gaza saying that the money will be redirected without specifying where.
Fawaz Turki of Gulf News rightly wrote on 31st August:
“America’s cut of 200 million dollars, along with drastic cut in its contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Relief (UNWRA) in January this, is calculatedly pauperising Palestinians and bringing them to their knees. This year is an effort to educate them out of the folly of their putative recalcitrance.”
Why have the Palestinians been pauperised?
Because they have been robbed of their land;
Because they have been deprived of quasi all their olive trees and its fruits;
Because they have no control over their social, political, economic, cultural and their party lines;
Because their traditional means of production have been destroyed;
Because the Israelis have robbed them of their honour;
As Fawaz Turki has written the book: The Disinherited: Journal of a Palestinian Exile. Based Washington said:
“The Palestinians are destitute because Israeli occupiers, through larceny have forced them into that condition. And Israel was able to beggar them because it had always had the backing of the USA. The USA is punishing Palestinians for the condition it has itself put them in. In the first place, a condition it now wants to exacerbate by choosing to cut aid.”
And to have a clearer picture of what is happening to the Palestinians it is apposite to quote with tears the recent report of Amnesty International “The Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) do not have access to adequate, safe water supplies. Discriminatory Israeli policies in opt are the root cause of the striking disparity in access to water between Palestinians and Israelis. The inequality is even more pronounced between Palestinian communities and unlawful Israeli colonies established. In the opt in violation of International Law. Swimming pools, well watered lawns and large irrigated farms in Israeli (Colonies) in the opt stand in stark contrast to Palestinian villages whose inhabitants struggle even to meet their domestic water needs. In parts of the west bank, Israeli (colonies) use up to 20 times more water per capita than neighbouring Palestinian communities, who survive on barely 20 litres of water per capita a day – the minimum recommended by the world health organization for emergency situations response.”
But the whole world must know that the Palestinians will never become a “Beggary Population”. The Palestinians symbolize dignity. Yes dignity!
Rama Valayden
