GAAACK!!! And HOW pray tell is this possible? Because our government, for some reason unknown to me, keeps sending VAST amounts of taxpayers money to them along with what Iran sends.
The world bank and IMF stopped short of saying exactly that. As you note they are highly dependent on the charity of others.
What most people don’t realize is how much Israel provides for them. If they go unilateral, it all goes away. First, Israel provides them their currency and their tax revenue. Israel could withdraw both or either. The Palestinians will have to create their own currency and their own tax agencies to collect, far more difficult than it sounds. Who will back currency, where will their foreign reserves come from?
Now on to trade. Who will they trade with? Gaza can trade with Egypt but that will be mostly one-way, with Gaza importing a lot more than export. The West Bank is surrounded by Israel, and will need Israel to accept all exports and allow all imports. If they are hostile, Israel has no choice but to be vigilant about what it allows in. They might even be at a state of official war.
Israel also provides water, power, sewage. There is no way the Palestinians are ready to run a state if they need to outsource these basic functions. Right now Israel is required to provide these functions and more, because it occupies the land and lays claim to it. But if the Arabs declare independence, Israel can withdraw from that land on which it renounces claims, and leave it to it’s own devices. Life would be very hard for that new state without israel’s ongoing assistance.
Finally, there is the pragmatic. Why be hostile to the neighbor that provides so much? Even if the Palestinian state develops an economy, Israel would be it’s largest trading partner. Israel is and would be the Palestinians largest employer Why maintain a hostile stance?
It would be best to negotiate, but I’m not one to think a unilateral declaration is the end of the world. The practical pragmatic stuff still needs to be worked out. Frankly, I view this as Abbas last play. He is doing it because he sees no future for himself, his underlings, or the PLO/PA. So he wants to declare a state and hope that the rest of the world will help keep it afloat after he is gone. He fears that after he is gone that the Palestinian factions will attack each other, and he hopes that if the have a recognized state even in dispute with Israel, it will force others to intercede in the case if civil war.