Palestinian gravy train coming to an end
Joe | 03.03.2004 17:47
The Palestinians are receiving the largest amount of money per capita in the history of foreign aid, but as curruption and terror continue, is the world losing patience. The Scotsman reports that the World Bank has given Yasser Arafat an ultimatum to end graft and mismanagement or risk losing foreign aid.
World Bank threatens to cut off aid to PA
The Scotsman: PA given ultimatum to either end rampant corruption or lose hundreds of millions of pounds in foreign aid.
The World bank’s top official in the region, Nigel Roberts, said Yasser Arafat had to stop the handing of large cash payments to his security commanders - used to keep them loyal to Arafat personally - and other corrupt financial practices. If this did not happen, he said, the Palestinian Authority risked losing the support of the international community.
In an interview with The Scotsman Roberts said the Palestinians were receiving the largest amount of money per capita in the history of foreign aid but this was still not enough to balance the budget. He said it was now crunch time for the Palestinian Authority, either support the reformers led by Finance Minister Salam Fayad, or face financial ruin.
At a conference of foreign donors in Rome last year, the Palestinian Authority (PA) asked for $1.2bn (£645m) to alleviate its current financial crisis. Roberts said: "To get that money will require a very forceful program of continued commitment to reform by the PA and by the Palestinian Ministry of Finance. Without evident commitment and progress towards tightening these systems and improving accountability, the PA will not get the money it needs." A massive hole has appeared in the Authority’s budget, which has been hard hit by Israeli military closures of Palestinian areas and other measures aimed at halting Palestinian terror attacks. In the years leading up to the Intifada, aid averaged £240m a year. It soared to £645m in 2002 before falling back to £475m last year, a drop of 14%.
Roberts said this amount of aid to one area was unparalleled. "The level of assistance in the three years since the Intifada is at an extraordinary high level", he said. "It’s a level of something over $300 (£160) per capita. According to our calculations, that is the highest per capita aid transfer in the history of foreign aid anywhere". Roberts said that while there had been a reduction in aid, this was mainly the result of a cut from Arab League States and a smaller amount from the European Union.
At the moment Arafat personally pays commanders in cash, rather than paying every serviceman via their bank accounts. Observers say this is designed to benefit Arafat, by making the commanders and officers feel dependent on his goodwill. In adition to the obvious potential for corruption, this enables Arafat to thwart any attempts at reforms by ensuring the security forces reman loyal to him personally, not the institutions of the PA.
The Scotsman: PA given ultimatum to either end rampant corruption or lose hundreds of millions of pounds in foreign aid.
The World bank’s top official in the region, Nigel Roberts, said Yasser Arafat had to stop the handing of large cash payments to his security commanders - used to keep them loyal to Arafat personally - and other corrupt financial practices. If this did not happen, he said, the Palestinian Authority risked losing the support of the international community.
In an interview with The Scotsman Roberts said the Palestinians were receiving the largest amount of money per capita in the history of foreign aid but this was still not enough to balance the budget. He said it was now crunch time for the Palestinian Authority, either support the reformers led by Finance Minister Salam Fayad, or face financial ruin.
At a conference of foreign donors in Rome last year, the Palestinian Authority (PA) asked for $1.2bn (£645m) to alleviate its current financial crisis. Roberts said: "To get that money will require a very forceful program of continued commitment to reform by the PA and by the Palestinian Ministry of Finance. Without evident commitment and progress towards tightening these systems and improving accountability, the PA will not get the money it needs." A massive hole has appeared in the Authority’s budget, which has been hard hit by Israeli military closures of Palestinian areas and other measures aimed at halting Palestinian terror attacks. In the years leading up to the Intifada, aid averaged £240m a year. It soared to £645m in 2002 before falling back to £475m last year, a drop of 14%.
Roberts said this amount of aid to one area was unparalleled. "The level of assistance in the three years since the Intifada is at an extraordinary high level", he said. "It’s a level of something over $300 (£160) per capita. According to our calculations, that is the highest per capita aid transfer in the history of foreign aid anywhere". Roberts said that while there had been a reduction in aid, this was mainly the result of a cut from Arab League States and a smaller amount from the European Union.
At the moment Arafat personally pays commanders in cash, rather than paying every serviceman via their bank accounts. Observers say this is designed to benefit Arafat, by making the commanders and officers feel dependent on his goodwill. In adition to the obvious potential for corruption, this enables Arafat to thwart any attempts at reforms by ensuring the security forces reman loyal to him personally, not the institutions of the PA.
Joe
Comments
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If only the USA
03.03.2004 19:52
Which murdering crook deserves the money most? Arafat? Sharon? None of the above?
Ian
Cheap date
03.03.2004 20:48
And you get way fewer dead people in the bargain too.
Evan
the posters tactic is known as "The big lie"
05.03.2004 00:31
Israeli funds from the US - grants, loans that quietly transmute into grants when the time for repayment comes, and loan guarantees on terms no-one else would touch - came to roughly $11bn last year. Up from the usual $6bn pa of grants.
I did have all the figures - but isn't that nearly $2000 per Israeli citizen that the US taxpayer has given or placed on risk this year, up from the normal $1000 ? with a total accumulated value of over $15000 per head ?
anyone got the accurate figures?
The point is - hugely, grossly, unbelievably in excess of what the palestinians have received from all sources - and this all from one donor. Palestinian gravy train ? Pshaw..........
And as for Arafat paying people in cash rather than via banks - your answer why lies in this posting
No palestinian but a lunatic would use a palestinian bank, when the Israeli military raid them, force clerks at gunpoint to trawl through clients accounts, and the IDF depart with the stolen booty in jeeps.
Not a word of a right of appeal or any vestige of a legal process. Not that I have seen mentioned. Anybody ?
panther
Panther is very badly informed.
05.03.2004 03:05
The PA is corrupt and the denials of people like Panther won't change that.
The money doesn't go to the Palestinian people - more than $100,000 (the equivalent cost of rewarding the families of four suicide bombers) PER MONTH goes to Arafat's wife, who lives in grotesque luxury in Paris.
Prepare for more revelations of this kind when the reports are in and the terror gravy dries up.
And spare a thought for the Palestinian people, who have been robbed blind by bloodthirsty scum like Arafat.
shahid
i'm always willing to listen
05.03.2004 12:58
This is not very clear. Are you saying that the IDF bank robbery was at the request of an individual palestinian ? More details please ? Plus some evidence in the form of links ?
panther