Israel Matzav: Cutting Off Your Nose to Spite Your Face; Where's the Money?

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Cutting Off Your Nose to Spite Your Face; Where's the Money?

The Hamas-dominated Palestinian Authority has decided to see to it that the Oasis Casino in Jericho never re-opens. The casino, which until the 'Palestinians' decided to use it for shooting was used mostly by Israeli gamblers, was destroyed by the IDF in the early days of the Palestinian terror war against Israel. It was one of the Arafat-led Palestinian Authority's largest sources of income from 1998-2000. But Hamas doesn't need any money, does it?

Hamas is planning to prevent the casino in Jericho from ever opening again soon after it forms the new Palestinian Authority cabinet, sources close to the Islamic movement said over the weekend.
Oasis Casino, which was opened in 1998, is the only casino in the PA areas.
Owned by Casinos Austria [and by an Austrian bank that lent money to the Sharon family and by former Barak 'envoy' to the Palestinian Authority Yossi Ginosar. The casino's attorney is none other than Dov Wesiglass, who happens to be Ariel Sharon's attorney. CiJ], the casino was shut shortly after the beginning of the intifada in September 2000. For years it was regarded as one of the prominent symbols of corruption in the PA because some of the money went into the bank accounts of senior PA leaders.
"They can only dream of reopening this damned place," a source close to Hamas told The Jerusalem Post. "We'll never allow the casino to operate."
Another source said he did not rule out the possibility that the casino would be turned into a mosque. "I've heard from top Hamas officials that this will be one of the first things that they will do when they take over the Palestinian Authority," the source said. "I don't think many Palestinians will be unhappy to see the casino wiped off the face of the earth."
Although it is located in Jericho, the casino never obtained a license from the Jericho Municipality. Instead, it operated under a special license from the PA Finance Ministry.
Hamas and other Islamic groups were strongly opposed to the opening of the casino in 1998. The PA leadership then justified the move by arguing that only Israelis and westerners would be permitted to enter the casino. Some PA officials even went as far as claiming that the casino was actually good for the Palestinians because of the damage it was causing to Israeli gamblers. [It certainly generated a lot of money for the PA while it was open. CiJ]

In Islam, gambling is strictly prohibited and the Koran associates it with alcohol, which is also forbidden. Referring to the practice, the Koran states: "O ye who believe! Strong drink and games of chance and idols and divining arrows are only an infamy of Satan's handiwork. Leave it aside in order that you may succeed (Al-Ma'edah Sura: 90)."

...
In an unrelated development, the PA said it was seeking the extradition of several former officials suspected of financial corruption.
"The Palestinian Authority has asked a number of countries to extradite Palestinians who were involved in financial corruption," said Gen. Tawfik Tirawi, commander of the PA's General Intelligence Force. "We have extradition treaties with these countries and we believe they will hand over all the suspects."
He did not name the countries, but many former PA officials are believed to have fled to Jordan, Egypt, Syria and some Gulf states following the death of Yasser Arafat. One of them is Sami Ramlawi, former director-general of the PA Finance Ministry, who is accused of stealing tens of millions of dollars.

PA Attorney-General Ahmed Mughni revealed last week that an investigation was under way to determine the fate of $700 million that went missing from the PA budget. He said at least 25 top officials had been named as chief suspects. [That's peanuts compared with the Arafat family's Swiss bank accounts. CiJ].