While President Bush’s call to replace the Palestinian leadership is provoking Palestinian Authority (PA) officials to reunite around the beleaguered Arafat, it is becoming clearer that as long as Israeli forces remain in Palestinian areas, a modern Palestinian state—where the rule of law, transparency and accountability govern—would most likely also remain an unachievable goal.
Israeli daily Maariv has released a detailed report delineating the involvement of senior members of the PA in acts of corruption and squandering of public funds. The information was reportedly obtained from PA documents seized during the Israeli army’s incursion into the West Bank in April.
While Palestinian officials label the report “Israeli propaganda”, the documents reportedly tell of a $1.5 million villa in Jericho constructed by Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker Ahmad Qurei' (Abu-Ala), using public funds, as well as a $100,000 grant awarded to the deputy to Information Minister Yasir Abd-Rabbuh for the construction of his private residence.
The report reveals that former minister Nabil Amro’s son received a $50,000 wedding gift from the PA. Another generous grant, which followed no formal procedures of approval, was a double living stipend arranged for Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Sha’th’s son, during his studies in France.
Public funds are also violated by the Palestinian police who extort $50 per month in protection money from Hebron merchants, while in Tulkarm a businessman was required to pay the intelligence apparatuses a $100,000 ransom for his brother’s release from prison, having been accused of collaboration with Israel.
Other allegations of corruption taking place under the PA relate to Jericho, where a gasoline station owner had to allow PA security forces unlimited fuel at no cost, while through bribes and forgery, the PA seized lands owned by the Orthodox Church in Bethlehem.
A deputy of Abu-Ala is quoted by Maariv as accusing “Key officials in the PA suffer from a lack of credibility and talent… There is an unnecessary multiplicity of ministries, appointments of relatives, waste, monopolies, bribery, thefts of equipment and money and hidden unemployment." — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
