Hasan Abu Nimah analyzes the state of the Palestinian Authority. What I find striking is that the exact same words can be applied to its Israeli counterpart, viz. it too is mired in paralysis and corruption, and as Abu Nimah says “dedicating all its effort to its own survival at any a cost, even at the expense of the rights of its people.”
“The Palestinian Authority (PA) is in a critical and untenable state. Israel has destroyed much of the fragile structure built as part of the Oslo process, including the Palestinian security forces. It has reoccupied most of the little land which has been placed under the control of the Authority. Israel has nearly bankrupted the PA by withholding taxes collected on behalf of the Palestinians. And it has held the PA leader, Yasser Arafat, in a humiliating siege, which has become for Israel an ‘acceptable’ alternative to deportation.”