When Arabs say they care about Palestinians, they don't put their money where their mouths are

For decades, the narrative has dominated how Arabs talked to the West, especially Western diplomats, was that the Palestinians are the top priority in the Arab world. Every meeting between US diplomats and Arab leaders, as documented in Wikileaks, seem to have prioritized the importance of the Palestinian issue.

An article in Arab American News this week lists ten "core Arab values" and of course support for Palestinians is considered one of them.

 Ever since the declaration of Israel in 1948, the Palestinian cause has been the core consideration of all Arabs. Different Arab states, groups, and people advocate for the basic rights of Palestinian people. After the turmoil of Arab Spring, Arab states, and people became overwhelmed with their own issues that the Palestinian case became marginalized. However, Trump’s announcement to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem to become the capital of Israel revived the issue and ignited anger across the Arab world for Palestinian people and Jerusalem, as an Arab holy city.

But as we have seen for many years, Arab countries - even rich Gulf states - have had a habit of pledging lots of money to Palestinians paying only a tiny percentage.

Their actions have never followed their words. And lately, as even this article shows, their words have become less supportive of Palestinians in recent years as well, and Jerusalem has not changed that at all (there were no major protests in the Arab world over the Trump Jerusalem decision, even though reporters looked hard.)

Yoram Ettinger in The Ettinger Report uncovers some additional interesting statistics. The percentage of Saudi foreign aid that goes to Palestinians is about one tenth of one percent, far behind many other states that receive Saudi aid.

Every Arab regime - and especially Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, Jordan and Egypt– are not preoccupied with the Palestinian issue, but with the immediate and lethal threats of the Ayatollahs and Islamic terrorism, which could topple them and transform their countries into Iraqi, Syrian, Libyan, Yemeni look-alike traumatic arenas.

For example, from 1979-1989, during the civil war in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia demonstrated its order of national security priorities, investing $1BN annually in the struggle of the Afghan rebels against the Soviet-backed regime in Kabul. This was ten times as much as the annual Saudi foreign aid to the PLO – $100MN.

Moreover, the Palestinian Authority was not among the top ten recipients of the $33BN foreign aid from Riyadh from 2007-2017: Yemen, Syria, Egypt, Niger, Mauritania, Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Jordan and Tunisia.

While the total Saudi foreign aid from 1985-2015 was $130BN - according to the Dubai-based daily, Gulf News - Saudi annual foreign aid to the Palestinian Authority was $100MN-$200MN, reflecting the inferior weight of the Palestinian issue in the Saudi order of national priorities.

According to Reuters News Agency, Saudi Arabia assigned to Egypt a $23BN aid package, reflecting the joint Cairo-Riyadh front against a common enemy: Muslim Brotherhood terrorists. The Toronto-based Geopolitical Monitor reported that a $12BN package was extended to Egypt by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, in addition to the $8BN Saudi investment in the Egyptian economy.

While the Palestinian Authority claims that Saudi Arabia has failed to fulfill its commitment to the its limited foreign aid package, Dubai-based Al Arabiya TV reported that Yemen supersedes the Palestinians in the eyes of Riyadh, which has provided the Aden-based regime of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi with $8.2BN aid in the battle against the Sanaa’-based Iran-supported Houthis.

The Palestinians have also taken a backseat to Jordan, when it comes to Saudi national priorities, as documented by the Saudi-Jordanian Coordination Council, which is unlocking billions of dollars to the Hashemite regime.

The relative marginalization of the Palestinians – who benefit from a $100MN-$200MN annual Saudi foreign aid package (whenever it is not suspended by Riyadh) – is gleaned through the CNBC December 18, 2017 report on the House of Saud purchasing a rare Leonardo da Vinci painting for $450MN, an exquisite palace in France for $300MN and a royal yacht for $500MN.

The Gulf states would insist on how important Palestinians were - but then let the West pay for most of the aid they receive.

One day, Europe will catch up with the Arab world and the current US administration and realize that they've been lied too for many years and many billions of euros.

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