Supporters of Terrorism Grow Weary

The Associated Press reports that the Palestinian Authority is going broke:
“Hit by waning support from fatigued donor nations, the Palestinian Authority has been forced to borrow from banks to pay salaries to its 125,000 employees and may be unable to meet its February payroll, the economy minister said Tuesday.
“With unemployment rampant outside the public payroll, Palestinians could be facing unprecedented economic collapse after three years of conflict with Israel. ‘We took loans from the bank for the past couple of months to pay salaries,’ Palestinian Economy Minister Maher Masri told The Associated Press. ‘If this situation continues … we will not be able to provide salaries next month.’
“The World Bank says donors have grown weary at the lack of progress toward peace, while the Palestinians are facing a $400 million shortfall. ‘They are facing a crisis and it’s getting worse,’ Norwegian Mideast envoy Jakken Biorn Lian said by phone from Oslo. ‘They need extra contributions.’
“Masri said that Arab declarations of support for the Palestinians were not being matched by remittances, with only Saudi Arabia and Libya agreeing to send money. ‘The Palestinian cause is not the world’s highest priority these days,’ he said.”
Well, it’s possible that after all these years, the “donor nations” have grown “fatigued” and “weary of the lack of progress toward peace.” I suspect it’s more likely, though, that supporting terrorism doesn’t have quite the cachet it once did. I’d guess that the “donor nations” can see that the wind is not blowing the terrorists’ way, and that aligning themselves with terrorists carries new and potentially unpleasant risks. Is it possible that the Bush Doctrine may be about to score another victory–the collapse of the Palestinian Authority?