Money can't buy you love

Money can't buy you love

Palestinian workers are hard at work, paving the main Ramallah-Birzeit road ... Hot asphalt pouring on the road, fumes spreading their intoxicating effect, in preparation for a smooth, world-class highway. It's all courtesy of US taxpayer dollars. Through the aid agency USAID, the Obama administration is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on projects in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

This year, USAID plans to spend $153m on infrastructure projects in the West Bank alone. That includes the construction of up 180 kilometres of roads. It's a considerable jump from the $65m the agency spent on similar projects in 2009.

It's all good news for local businesses that implement the projects and the workers who benefit from the short-term employment they provide. USAID estimates its projects have provided 174,500 people days of employment through its emergency job programme, implemented through sub-contractors.

But the numbers are not adding up right for ordinary Palestinians. The smooth ride hasn't managed to sooth people's perceptions of the country that paid for it.

One driver told me all this money and all these projects are driven by a political agenda. "They want to distract us with roads until our country is gone," he said.

Across the West Bank, there are large signs flaunting US money … and aid … in so many fields, like education, health and economic development. "A gift from the American people" reads a large sign, showing finished projects in various fields.

The United States has been the biggest donor to Palestinians since the signing of the Oslo Peace Accords. In total, it has pumped $2.9bn in assistance to the Palestinian people since 1993. And aid has been on the rise, since the Obama administration took office.

The numbers are quite remarkable. According to USAID, since 1993, the US has spent:

- $131m on youth and education.
- $1bn on water resources and infrastructure
- $337m on democracy and governance
- $262m on health and humanitarian assistance
- $325m on Palestinian trade and economic development

Only recently [2008] has the United States provided direct assistance to the Palestinian Authority. But all these projects, which directly service the communities here, have had no positive effect on the US image in Palestine.

"They think they can buy our love with money" one driver asked me. "We don't want their money, we want their help in other ways. We want them to respect our rights and our perspective," he said.

Like the vast majority of Palestinians, this driver was more concerned about America's political support. The overall sentiment here is that while the United States builds schools and roads in Palestine, it arms and protects Israel, thus enabling it to maintain its occupation.

The US-Israeli relationship is the ever-present element in the daily reality of Palestinians, who have endured 43 years of Israeli occupation. It is US-made weapons that kill their children and American political support that  shields Israel from international reproach.

That's why all this money, schools and projects have not won Palestinian hearts.

"Only a change in American policies towards the Palestinian-Israeli conflict would change Palestinian attitudes," Alaa' Radhi told me. She is project co-ordinator in Near East Consulting, a prominent polling agency in the region.

Alaa' also said Palestinians do not object to receiving US aid. But "they view it as compensation for bad American policies", she said. "In fact, our research shows American aid has not and will not change Palestinians' perception of America so long as its policies remain unchanged." This may sound ungrateful yet a close look at how US support translates into Palestinian misery could shed some light on these sentiments.

Reminders of what is often referred to as "America's enduring commitment to Israel" are almost daily. A few days ago, US Secretary of State spoke to the prominent American-Israeli power-house, AIPAC. She spoke of the special relationship between the two countries and announced yet another military deal that would guarantee Israel's qualitative military supremacy in the region. And aside from military and political aid, Israel receives billions of dollars of US aid in other fields every year. For the fiscal year 2010, the Obama administration requested $2.775bn of aid to Israel.

These days, the real, on ground test, for the US is its policy towards the unprecedented rate of Israeli settlement expansion on occupied Palestinian land… Palestinians say this construction is undermining their aspirations for statehood as it literally takes the land on which they want to establish their state. It's an illegal policy that despite unanimous international condemnation has so far continued - and accelerated - thanks to the ever-present threat of a US veto at the UN Security Council.

In short, the picture is really quite clear. US money, while highly needed and beneficial to Palestinians, cannot distract them from the reality of occupation they want to see end. And since the United States is the most powerful player in this equation, its actions are judged closely. No Palestinian expects the US-Israeli alliance to end or change. They do, however, expect promises of statehood to be fulfilled. So if during these testing times Palestinian calls for effective intervention from the Obama administration remain unanswered, it's highly unlikely the pumped dollars will generate a different outcome from years past.