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Middle East
EU funds stolen by paleos disappear
2004-01-21
A TEAM of inspectors from OLAF, the European Union fraud office, is this week arriving in Jerusalem to investigate whether EU funds have been misdirected by the Palestinians. The European fraud-busters come at a time when allegations are mounting of corruption in the Palestinian Authority. Palestinian officials and employees of pressure groups in the West Bank and Gaza are accused of having systematically diverted foreign aid over recent years. But the outcome of the OLAF investigation is by no means certain.
I think the usual response is to try and bump them off, isn't it?
That’s because European Union officials, orchestrated by EU External Relations Commissioner Chris ibn al Patten, have repeatedly ignored the signs that millions of euros of taxpayers’ money may be ending up in the wrong Palestinian pockets.
see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil. just pay for it.
In the hope of sucking up to strengthening ties with Yasser Arafat and the Arab world, EU leaders have proved remarkably reluctant to find out exactly how their aid money is spent. Arab states have reduced their funding in protest at the stalled peace protest. Does the EU have the will to do the same? At the very least, the EU should consider its continued support conditional on clear-cut action by Arafat to implement the first phase of the roadkill Road Map peace plan. This calls for the Palestinians to ’declare an unequivocal end to violence and terrorism’.
their simultaneous call for pigs to fly was considered more likely to occur
The EU has placed customs tariffs on Israeli goods produced in West Bank settlements. EU aid to Israel is not allowed to be used in the occupied territories. The time may have come for the EU to apply similar sanctions to the Palestinians. Yasser Arafat is suspected of having been paying the salaries of terrorists from the e10m in monthly EU budget support for his civil service. Patten’s claims that the EU funds were minutely supervised by the IMF have been disputed by the IMF official responsible, Salaam Fayyad, now Palestinian finance minister. An IMF report concluded that $900m was ’diverted’ from the PA budget up to 2000. Former Palestinian cabinet minister Abdel Fattah Hamayel admits paying $40,000 per month bombing expenses’living expenses’ to those Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades gunmen not already employed by the Palestinian security forces.
hey. have you seen the price of C4 lately!?!
Stephen Bloomberg, a London-born engineer, is suing the EU for e20m. In August 2001, two Palestinian gunmen sprayed his car with bullets, killing his pregnant wife and leaving Mr Bloomberg and his teenage daughter paralysed in wheelchairs. The gunmen were caught by the Israelis. One was a police officer and the other the police chief from the West Bank town of Qalkilyeh. Their salaries at the time were paid by the EU. It is also alleged that corruption may have tainted EU donations to Palestinian Non Governmental Organisations. Much of the e105m donated since 2000 has been laundered channelled through the Palestinian Finance Ministry. Funds are budgeted at an exchange rate of 4.5 shekels to the dollar and paid out at a rate of 3.5 shekels to the dollar. No one knows what happens to the millions represented by the exchange gap.
My guess is that it's Suha's clothes closet, but I suppose it could also be used for arms and ammunition...
LAST week, lawyer Khader Shekirat was arrested by Palestinian police after the EU accused him of stealing $2m from LAW - the EU-funded Palestinian human rights group which he headed.
he was released that afternoon, after the photo ops
Recently, the Palestinian NGO Network flatly refused to sign a pledge, requested by the American aid body USAID, that they will not ’provide material support or resources to any individual or entity that advocates, plans, sponsors, engages in or has engaged in terrorist activity’.
what? you mean you won’t pay us to kill Jews?
They said they preferred to reject the $1.3m received from USAID in the past decade rather than sign the pledge. The EU should consider a similar pledge - combined with concrete action - from the Palestinian NGOs and the Palestinian Authority government.
Posted by:PlanetDan

#6  What if we just sent the charities funding in the form of Walmart gift cards. It would be harder to use the funds for evil as they could only draw cash if the remainder on the card was less than $5. If you use one of the cards at my local Wal-mart to fill up, you can get 4 cents off per gallon of gas. That might have a damping effect the spirally worldwide price of crude.
Posted by: Super Hose   2004-1-21 1:40:46 PM  

#5  Former Palestinian cabinet minister Abdel Fattah Hamayel admits paying $40,000 per month ’living expenses’ to those Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades gunmen not already employed by the Palestinian security forces.

Which means the Paleo security boys get more, right? Otherwise they'd hit the bread line.

$40,000 per month ANYWHERE in the world would buy you a soft life -- great house, good food, lots of entertainment and toys, education, you name it. ANYWHERE. So why is Ein-al-Hellhole such a shithole? Why is Jenin a shithole? Ramallah? Same thing. Each and every village and city on the West Bank and Gaza is a dump.

Don't blame the Israelis, either. They were working to whip the place into shape right up to the time they pulled out and gave Yasser his long-coveted "autonomy". Lot at the result.

I hope USAID sticks to its guns and doesn't dispense another penny. I have no hopes at all for the EU.
Posted by: Steve White   2004-1-21 1:05:12 PM  

#4  Forty grand a month? In the PA?

Palaces indeed...
Posted by: mojo   2004-1-21 12:22:59 PM  

#3  Between this scandle and Oil For Food, I am begining to feel like the close relative of a crackhead must.
Posted by: Super Hose   2004-1-21 11:26:44 AM  

#2  Over 20% skimmed off the top, just from the exchange rate alone. In plain sight.

Absolutely Positively F#$king Hilarious.

Hey Chris Patten, why do you still have a job?
Posted by: Daniel King   2004-1-21 11:19:42 AM  

#1  I will kiss Arafat @$$ at high noon at the temple mount if he spends ONE day in custudy. This is all for show, nothing will become of this and the terror will continue. USAID has drawn a line in the sand, but EU (France/Germany) has no cajones to make this worthwhile. I preduct they (EU) will boost the PA fund and the stealing will continue.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter)   2004-1-21 10:27:53 AM  

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