On Tuesday, the news broke that a Etihad Airways plane loaded with tons of COVID-19 aid from the UAE landed in Israel, the first known time a commercial flight from the UAE ever came to Ben Gurion Airport.
Today, Israeli media reports that the Palestinian Authority has refused to accept the aid.
Kan News reports that the PA refused the medical aid, saying the Abu Dhabi authorities have not coordinated the shipment with them at all, and the manner in which aid is sent is not acceptable to the PA.
"If the UAE wants to normalize with Israel, then it shouldn't be on our backs," a Palestinian source told Kan.
In fact, the aid was coordinated with the UN. The aid was sent through the UN's World Food Program and was facilitated by the UN's Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO.) it included included 16 tons of medical supplies, including 10 ventilators and protective equipment.
For months now, anti-Israel activists have been falsely accusing Israel of withholding COVID-19 aid to Palestinians as a political tool. As is always the case, this is projection on their part: the only side refusing aid for political purposes are the Palestinians. And the Palestinian Authority has been limiting medical aid to Gaza as well.
Western observers cannot wrap their heads around those who would sacrifice their own people's lives for "honor" reasons. Yet it is honor and shame that drives virtually all decisions in the Arab and Muslim worlds, more than human life, far more than the desire for peace. Every "expert" who says that there would be peace if only Israel would do more - more concessions, allowing descendants of refugees to "return," releasing terrorists from prison, dividing Jerusalem - is ignorant, because Israel's existence is the real issue, and the shame that the weak, dhimmi Jews overpowered the combined armies of the mighty warrior Arab world is too much for the Palestinians to overcome. Generations brainwashed by "Nakba" propaganda are not going to accept peace with Israel, because peace is not as important as pride, and Jews controlling land in the region is too shameful.