CIAO DATE: 02/2015
December 2014
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
The omnibus spending bills just passed by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives include one obscure yet potentially significant provision on the issue of incitement in the Israeli-Palestinian arena: a reiteration of the requirement that the Palestinian Authority (PA) act to end its official incitement against Israel as a condition for continued U.S. funding. This provision should be enforced, not evaded as has been the case until now. Funding need not be cut completely, which might jeopardize both Palestinian and Israeli lives if security coordination suffered as a result. But a meaningful concrete penalty for official incitement, by either side, should be imposed. In addition, as the PA prepares to take its case to the UN Security Council this week, the United States should raise the problem of incitement in that discussion, and work to incorporate clear and binding language against incitement in any eventual Security Council resolution. These are among the few U.S. tools to demonstrate real determination to fight this evil and deter its all too frequent recurrence.
Resource link: Palestinian-Israeli Incitement Can and Should Be Curbed, Especially Now [PDF] - 62K