Israel Matzav

Where has all the money gone?

Remember the anti-war song, Where Have All the Flowers Gone? Let's go to the videotape.



We need to change the words to that song for the 'Palestinian Authority' and ask Where Has All the Money Gone?

Malhis estimated that foreign countries had donated a total of $12 billion to the PA since 1995. That figure did not include billions of dollars in aid provided by international aid groups such as UNRWA and other NGO's, she noted. Aid to the PA is increasing steadily: the PA received an average of one billion dollars a year between 2001 and 2005, $1.5 billion in 2007, $1.8 billion in 2009, and an estimated $2 billion is expected in 2010.

The amount of aid provided is particularly high when compared to the number of PA Arabs – the highest estimated PA population is 3.9 million, and more conservative estimates put the number of PA Arabs at 2.6 million – and the PA's GDP is an estimated $4.5 billion annually.

And yet, Malhis said, it has been difficult to note any positive impact of these enormous sums on the PA economy. The GDP is 13 percent lower than it was in 1999, and GDP per capita is down by 30 percent, she said. .

Two main contributing factors are the large PA public payroll, which accounts for almost 60 percent of the PA's spending, and the money poured into the armed forces, which is more than the combined amounts spent on health and education, Malhis said. Malhis elaborated:

1. The production capacity in the occupied territories was higher in the early nineties prior to the peace process,

2. The ratio of exports to imports became a feeble 19 percent

3. The ability of Domestic Production to cover domestic national consumption deteriorated resulting in an increase in dependency on Israeli imports and a heavy reliance on Arab and international aid to finance the cost of these imports.

4. We have also witnessed deterioration in PA ability to provide basic services such as health, education, social development and security unless heavily subsidized by Arab and international donations and aid to support its expenditures.

5. In 2009, international support was required to address a budget deficit of 61.4 percent, equivalent to 39 percent of the Palestinian GDP."

She concluded: "One cannot but feel that these resources have been wasted. When the outcome of more than a 12 billion dollar investment results in such disastrous numbers, then it is obvious that immense mistakes were made on a strategic level". She named the following causes:

Read the whole thing.

And then just give them a state and then they'll figure out where all that money went and how to spend the billions more they'll be receiving from the 'international community.'

Where has all the money gone? When will WE ever learn?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:52 AM