There was an unintentionally revealing tweet from the "State of Palestine" about Israel's recognition of Somaliland:
Maybe because Somaliland is everything "Palestine" can never be.
Michael Rubin writes in the Jerusalem Strategic Tribune:
In 1960, Somaliland won its independence from Britain. Five days later, however, Somaliland’s government chose to unify with the former Italian colony to form what would become Somalia.It was not a happy marriage, and the former British protectorate split from Somalia in 1991.Somaliland’s three decades of isolation, in hindsight, may have been a blessing. The international community dumped billions of dollars of aid into Mogadishu, but Somaliland received next to none and had to raise its own budget from customs revenue and taxation. As a result, Somaliland built capacity and a tax base. It is home to major investments—multibillion-dollar communications and mobile money companies, one of the continent’s largest Coca Cola bottling plants, hotels, resorts, and transportation companies. Its deep-water Berbera port now competes with Djibouti and Mombasa. Most businesses that the international community labels as Somali are actually owned by Somalilanders.Nowhere has Somaliland demonstrated its capacity and accountability more than with elections. Somaliland, unlike Somalia, has held more than eight elections since 1991. One was decided by less than 100 votes of more than one million cast. Each change of power has been peaceful. Somaliland elections are among the world’s most secure, with voter registration certified with biometric iris scans.
What a contrast with "Palestine"!
The PA started not long after Somaliland declared independence, and has had the benefit of billions of dollars in aid from the West as well as from Arab countries. All it has to show for this is a kleptocracy, one of the most corrupt governments on Earth, a dictatorship where one person controls the executive, legislative and judicial branches as well as the organization (the PLO) that the PA officially reports to, and a permanent split with Hamas.
The Palestinian government could not survive a week without international aid. Somaliland has been stable for 33 years without such aid.
Somaliland compares far more with the Zionist government in making from 1922-1948 where diaspora Jews helped financially but it was mostly built with dedication and sweat from the Jews who lived there, creating institutions that were ready as soon as the British left.
International aid cannot help a people who have little interest in self-governance to begin with. The Palestinian national cause, from the start, was always primarily anti-Israel and independence was only a means to help destroy Israel rather than an end in itself.
The world should reward people who actually care about themselves and their future, not those whose entire purpose is to destroy another state.
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