Hamas working hard, investing tremendous resources to rebuild Gaza
Why bother to rebuild when you can buy rockets instead?
Labels: European foreign aid, Fajr-5 rockets, Grad rocket, Hamas, Hamas rockets, Izzadin Kassam Brigades, J-80 rockets, Kassam rockets, M-302 rockets, M-75 rockets, US foreign aid
International community pledges $5.4 billion for Hamas, less than $1 billion to fight Ebola
This week there was a parlor party to raise money for one of the world's great humanitarian issues. No, it wasn't Ebola. The world doesn't have time for that and cannot even come up with $1 billion to fight it. It's Gaza where for the third time in six years the world is pledging billions of dollars to reconstruct after Hamas brought on a war. What's wrong with this picture?
Michael Freund comments.
Consider the following. At the Gaza donor conference, which was held in
Cairo, a whopping $5.4 billion was pledged, half of which will go
towards rebuilding efforts while the rest will be used to sustain the
budget of the Palestinian Authority, which now includes Hamas, through
2017.
In other words, even though the Palestinians siphoned off
previous aid and used it to prepare for war with Israel, they are once
again becoming recipients of Western largesse.
Needless to say,
the funds pledged are not contingent on Hamas disarmament, nor will any
demands be made of the terrorist group to cease building tunnels to
try and burrow into Israel and murder innocent civilians.
Worse
yet, by alleviating the humanitarian difficulties confronting Gaza
residents, the international community is effectively reducing popular
pressure on Hamas to refrain from sparking another conflict and
mitigating popular anger against the terrorist group.
Indeed, the
decision to funnel billions to Gaza is so dramatically short-sighted,
and so remarkably stupid, that it makes one wonder if Europe and the
Obama administration even understand what their own interests are.
After all, why on earth would they want to assist Hamas, even
indirectly, to strengthen its position vis-à-vis the Palestinian
population? The inanity at work here is even more pronounced when one
considers that the United Nations has been having difficulty raising
just $1b. to fight Ebola.
Although the disease has killed more
than 4,000 people and spread to at least seven countries, UN Deputy
Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said on Friday that just $250 million – a
mere one-quarter of the amount needed – has been raised thus far. “I
now appeal to all member states to act generously and swiftly,”
Eliasson said, adding that, “Speed is of the essence. A contribution
within days is more important than a larger contribution within weeks.”
And
so, even though the number of Ebola cases is reportedly doubling every
three to four weeks, billions of dollars will be lavished on Gaza
rather than on the jeopardized populations of Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Read the whole thing.
UPDATE 11:42 PM
Khaled Abu Toameh has some more reasons why
paying to rebuild Gaza is a bad idea.
First, the promised funds absolve Hamas of any responsibility for the
catastrophe it brought upon the Palestinians during the confrontation
with Israel.
Now the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip will no longer be asking Hamas
to compensate them for the loss of their houses and family members. Any
Palestinian who asks Hamas for financial aid will, as of now, be
referred to the PA or the donor states.
Hopes that the catastrophic results of the confrontation would
increase pressure on Hamas or perhaps trigger a revolt against it have
faded now that the PA and the donor states have become the address for
distributing financial aid.
Second, the talk about rebuilding or repairing infrastructure in the
Gaza Strip is the best thing that could have happened to Hamas. The
funds promised by the donor states will help rebuild various
Hamas-controlled installations in the Gaza Strip, such as ministries,
security bases, universities, mosques and charities. The infrastructure
in the Gaza Strip is almost entirely controlled, directly and
indirectly, by Hamas.
All investment in the Gaza Strip's infrastructure will ultimately
serve Hamas's interests, even if such work is being carried out by the
Palestinian Authority.
Third, Hamas members and supporters would be among those entitled to
some of the money coming from the Western and Arab donors. The
Palestinian Authority would find it impossible to hand out money only to
Abbas loyalists in the Gaza Strip, having already promised to take care
of all Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, regardless of their political
affiliations.
Four, the financial aid has not been conditioned on Hamas laying down
its weapons or even ceding control over the Gaza Strip to the
Palestinian Authority. From now, the PA will be working toward
rebuilding the Gaza Strip while Hamas will use its own resources to
smuggle in additional weapons and prepare for the next war with Israel.
This seems to be the agreed division of responsibilities between Hamas
and the PA.
Five, there is no guarantee that the billions of dollars would have a
moderating effect on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip or turn them away
from Hamas. Some Palestinians are even worried that the international
community might be trying to bribe the PA to stop it from pursuing plans
to seek unilateral UN recognition of a Palestinian state. Others
believe the promised funds are intended to stop the PA from signing the
Rome Statute as a first step toward joining the International Criminal
Court, in order to file "war crimes" charges against Israel.
Oh - and did I mention that Hamas 'only'
asked for $4 billion? The international community really outdid itself on this one.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Ebola, European foreign aid, Gaza, Hamas, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Palestinian Authority, United Nations, US foreign aid
Gaza donors have had it?
Moadim l'Simcha, a good holiday to all of you. This is the first time I have been online since the day on which access to the computer is prohibited ended at sundown last night. I was busy with family matters.
A reminder that here in Israel there is only one holiday day at each end on which work is prohibited (rather than the two there are overseas), and therefore, I can be online on Friday afternoon.
It seems that Western donors - who have been asked to finance the 'reconstruction' of Gaza over and over again only to see their money go for weapons - may finally have had it with Hamas and its leadership. The donor countries are said to be suffering from '
fatigue.'
To that end, a Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, warned there was "considerable donor fatigue."
"We have seen infrastructure projects that we have contributed to
which have been destroyed," the diplomat said, adding that skepticism
had existed even before the recent conflict.
Ample evidence has proven that Hamas uses UN and other aid money, as well as materials,
to build terror tunnels into Israeli territory with the aim of
attacking Israeli citizens - instead of providing buildings to its own
citizens.
[A] network of over 30 tunnels was found during the
ground offensive, with each tunnel costing roughly $3 million to build.
For every Hamas terror tunnel, the IDF stated, there was enough building
materials to build 86 homes; seven mosques; six schools; or nineteen
medical clinics.
Meanwhile, Hamas has begun to rebuild terror tunnels into Israel on
foreign aid money - but despite this, the UN already joined the PA in making a call for $550 million to rebuild Gaza.
But it seems that the West isn't 'fatigued' enough. Despite the 'donor fatigue,' the West is accepting the 'Palestinians' narrative without question.
Earlier this week, Hamas and the PA met in a unity government meeting
in Gaza to present the pretext of the PA being in charge of the
going-ons in Gaza - a stunt the international community praised - and PA
"foreign minister" Riyad al-Malki was confident the message was enough.
"Our initial predictions are that the (donor) conference will be a big success," he said this week.
But a second diplomat, who did not want to be named, said the
Gaza cabinet meeting was "not enough to reassure donors" - even if it
was enough to reassure the political machine.
Here's hoping that the donors' conference is a resounding failure.
Labels: European foreign aid, financing terror, Gaza, Hamas, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Palestinian finances, Palestinian terrorism, terror tunnels, US foreign aid
Why the poor 'Palestinians'
Fascinating....
The cost of PA corruption is monumental. More than anything else, it
makes Palestinian political and economic progress all but impossible.
The poor quality of governance and the resulting lack of political
inclusiveness and economic opportunities in the Palestinian territories
are a surefire model for the kind of economic and political repression
that typifies underperforming societies. You will not find a single
example of a people governed by such a regime that has achieved
long-term success. The inevitable result is social stagnation and the
kind of discontent that can lead to violence and even war.
In one of my favorite examples of how Palestinian governance is
subservient to political power, the PA still pays its Gaza-based
employees even though they are unable to perform their duties due to the
Hamas takeover. In other words, the PA—using donor funds—is paying
people not to work. There is only one reason for this: It allows PA
President Mahmoud Abbas to maintain his political base in Gaza.
Perhaps more infuriating, however, is the fact that an enormous
amount of PA money—foreign and domestic—goes to line the pockets of the
Palestinian political elite. About two years ago, Hasan Khreishah, the
deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, spoke out on the
issue. “Since the signing of the Oslo Accords,” he said, “we have had 12
Palestinian governments…. Each government [has]… at least 24 ministers.
This means we have had 228 ministers, in addition to advisors. All
receive high salaries and luxurious vehicles.” He went on to point out
that the aforementioned PIF pays its chairman $35,000 per month, which
is over 12 times the West Bank’s per capita gross domestic product in
2008—the most recent data available.
This is, unfortunately, the PA’s standard operating procedure. An EU audit of the years 2008-2012 found that around 2 billion
Euros of its aid were lost to corruption. It has also been shown that
Yasser Arafat and his advisors stole millions of dollars in foreign
donations, turning them into billions as they moved the money around the
world. According to several reports, this practice has continued—and
may have gotten worse—under Abbas. And with the Palestinians’ acceptance
into the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, the PA will now
have a shield with which to protect itself from any real reform.
Many supporters of the PA tend to look for ways to explain away these
problems. They have composed a popular narrative in which, despite the
PA’s corruption—or perhaps regardless of it—the Palestinians’ problems
are primarily Israel’s fault. Economic and political development in the
Palestinian territories, it is claimed, can only move forward if Israel
withdraws from the West Bank, voids its security requirements for border
movement, and allows the free flow of people and goods.
I have witnessed something different. I have observed the West Bank
economy and labor market from within, and have come to understand that
the best opportunities for Palestinians are abroad. Not only do foreign
markets offer larger consumer bases and greater profits for exporters,
but most importantly they do not suffer from the corruption experienced
under the Palestinian Authority that stifles prosperity well beyond any
other factor. Even within the West Bank economy, many of the best
opportunities come from Israeli and foreign assistance.
Given that the highest profit margins for Palestinian goods are found
outside the territories, such assistance is essential. And given that
Israel is the Palestinians’ main point of access to foreign markets, its
help is equally important. Even though many opportunities for economic
development are initiated by aid agencies and NGOs from the West and
Asia—such as the project Sammy Khalidi participated in—they not only
require Israel’s help, but also benefit from direct Israeli
participation that mostly goes unreported. This is partly because
Israel’s assistance can be politically unpopular domestically, but it
also because, as in Sammy’s case, it does not fit the narrative people
are comfortable with.
Read the whole thing.
As you might have figured out from the cartoon above, I am not convinced that the 'Palestinians' would make peace with Israel even if they had an economy. But what it would lead it is something far more dangerous from the 'Palestinian' elite's perspective: contentment with the status quo, a lessening of the desire for a 'Palestinian state' now, and most importantly, a dissipation of the desire to extirpate the Jewish state. Aside from pure greed, those are the motivations behind the continuing corruption in the 'Palestinian Authority' and the acceptance of that corruption by the overwhelming majority of the elites in the international community who turn a blind eye to it.
Labels: economy, European foreign aid, Palestinian Authority corruption, Palestinian economy, US foreign aid
Outrageous: EU demanding compensation for illegal 'Palestinian' structures in E1
Shavua tov, a good week to everyone once again. This is the first live post of the evening. Mrs. Carl and I and most of our children spent the Sabbath in Beit El, which is in Samaria as a pre-Pesach treat from Mrs. Carl's parents. By my count, this is bli ayin hara the 12th year that they have taken us away for the Sabbath before Pesach (two Sabbaths before in the years when Pesach starts on Saturday night).
If the Europeans want to know why they have ZERO influence in this country, this story might be a place to start looking. The European Union has demanded compensation for the destruction by Israel earlier this week of eighteen tin huts that were housing 'Palestinians' on land that is not zoned for 'Palestinian' building (in a word, squatters). The land in question is in E-1, the strip between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim upon which Israel has talked time and time again of building, each time being stopped by the Americans. According to the Europeans, they 'partially funded' those 18 tin huts, and they have
demanded compensation from Israel for their destruction.
EU officials demanded financial compensation from Israel to Brussels
in response to the demolition of three of the structures, Belgian news
service EurActiv reported.
“We should ask for compensation from
Israel whenever EU-funded humanitarian aid projects are destroyed,”
EurActiv quoted an anonymous EU diplomat as saying.
“We will raise
this issue with the relevant Israeli authorities,” Maja Kocijancic, a
spokesperson for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, told
EurActiv.
We ought to give one of two responses. Either we should simply tell them to stick it where the sun don't shine, or we should tell them that we are setting it off against the damages from European-financed 'Palestinian' terror and they still have a long way to go. I favor the first solution - I don't want to acknowledge that they have any kind of claim.
Labels: E-1, European anti-Semitism, European foreign aid, European hypocrisy, European Union, financing terror, Palestinian terrorism
Pigs get ready to fly, Sweden considering reducing aid to the 'Palestinians'
The pig is getting ready to fly.
In what has to be a first, the government of Sweden is
considering reducing aid to the 'Palestinians' because of their refusal to enter peace negotiations.
The report quoted Development aid minister Gunilla Carlsson as asking:
"Is it worth continuing developing the prerequisites for a two-state
solution if Israel and the Palestinians themselves do not want to sit
down at the negotiating table?"
Of course, she should not have mentioned Israel. Would they cut aid to the 'Palestinians' because Israel didn't want to negotiate? Of course not!
At the moment, Sweden donates $107 million on a yearly basis to Gaza
and the West Bank to aid the Palestinians, a move that Carlsson says has
been made to fortify the Palestinian's position in any future peace
talks.
However, if there are no negotiations, than the Swedish
demonstration of support would become meaningless. "I don't want to
haggle with Swedish aid money, but I can only take the perspective of
the Swedish taxpayers," Carlsson said, "one wants results."
Sweden's left leaning parties slammed the aid cut-back proposal.
"To
drop the Palestinians in the way that the government is now considering
doing is wrong," Social Democrats' aid policy spokesman Kenneth G
Forslund was reported as saying.
Sweden has more than its share of anti-Semites, and they still managed to figure this out. What if that started a trend?
Heh.
Labels: European foreign aid, Palestinians, Sweden
Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler
Here's Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler for Tuesday, September 4.
1) On the other hand
Bret Stephens writes in Maybe he has Israel's Back ( available in it entirety through a link from Google search here):
Maybe the administration thinks that it can pursue an effective covert strategy against Iran while also telling the media that it is pursuing such a strategy. Maybe someone forgot to tell whoever is leaking the details of this strategy that "covert" is another word for "secret."
Or maybe the Obama administration is happy to brag about its covert accomplishments, even when the bragging betrays Israel's secrets as well.
2) Something to think about next time you hear about the PA's financial crisis
The Times of Israel summarizes a report from Israel's channel 2, PA spends 6% of its budget paying Palestinians in Israeli jails, families of suicide bombers:
As of May 2011, the PA spent NIS 18 million ($4.5 million) per month on compensating Palestinian inmates in Israeli prisons and a further NIS 26 million ($6.5 million) on payments to families of suicide bombers. In all, such payments cost the PA some 6 percent of its overall budget, Israel’s Channel 2 news reported on Monday night, citing documentation signed by Fayyad.
...
Starting in 2003, Palestinian law mandated the dispensation of a monthly salary of NIS 1,000 ($250) to security detainees sentenced to up to five years in prison. The longer the sentence, the higher the pay. An inmate serving a life sentence was paid NIS 4,000 ($1,000) per month.
An amendment of the law in January 2011 enacted by Fayyad increased the salaries by up to 300%, Channel 2 reported.
No word if this has some sort of deleterious effect on the Palestinian "soul."
More on the topic from Palestinian Media Watch last year.
3) Those who don't learn from history are doomed to write bad op-eds
The New York Times featured an op-ed by one Paul Thomas Chamberlin, When it pays to talk to terrorists:
It cannot be argued, however, that American leaders were unaware of the growing pragmatism within the P.L.O. Declassified White House papers show that, as early as 1970, State Department officials told Nixon that the Palestinians “cannot be ignored” and argued that they could become “constructive partners in a peace settlement.” American officials at the United Nations stressed that the Palestinians were “an essential element” and urged Washington to bring them into the peace process quickly.
Ultimately, the political need to stand up to “terrorism” made a more nuanced approach to Palestinian nationalism difficult. While Nixon might have negotiated with guerrillas — as he was in the process of doing with the National Liberation Front in South Vietnam in 1972 — to do so with “terrorists” seemed another matter altogether.
By failing to strengthen moderates within the P.L.O. and effectively locking the Palestinians out of the Arab-Israeli peace process, American officials sidelined potential peacemakers and pushed Palestinian national ambitions to the back burner. The decision to label all armed Palestinian groups “terrorists” postponed negotiations with the P.L.O. by 15 critical years, during which time the Lebanese civil war and the intifada helped spawn more militant groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. By the time relations were finally established in the late 1980s, Hamas’s star was already rising.
The reason for labeling "all armed Palestinian groups 'terrorists'" was because that was what they were. It was a definition, not really a label.
Chamberlin is arguing that if the United States (and, presumably, Israel) had started talking to the PLO earlier, Israel would enjoy peace in our time.
Implicitly, Chamberlin, in that last sentence, appears to be arguing that by allowing Hamas to emerge in competition to the PLO that allowed Palestinian politics to radicalize. That argument doesn't survive Chamberlin's own logic. If the emergence of Hamas made Fatah more radical, wouldn't the radical PLO factions have the same effect on the ones he claimed to be moderate?
If the appearance of this op-ed isn't bad enough, consider that prior to and during the Olympics, the New York Times did not feature a single editorial or op-ed advocating a moment of silence for the Israeli athletes killed in Munich. The only way the editors of the New York Times remembered the Munich massacre, was with an ahistorical, illogical essay whitewashing the PLO. (There was a memorial for David Berger in the sports pages and a handful of news items about the moment of silence, but nothing in the opinion section.)
Pesach Benson neatly takes the op-ed apart.
4) Soak the rich Gazans
Last week the New York Times reported U.N. Sees Bleak Outlook for Gaza Unless Services Are Improved:
Under international pressure Israel has eased restrictions on imports to Gaza, but exports from the enclave are still minimal, undermining efforts to build an independent, effective economy. Israel says that it is working to enable exports from Gaza to the West Bank, but that the efforts are complicated by security considerations.
“Gaza is currently kept alive through external funding and the illegal tunnel economy,” the United Nations report said, referring to the vast network of smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border.
“With little room for further growth,” it added, “Gaza needs to be open and accessible to the world.”
While the report acknowledges that there's been rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, there's no sense that the rocket fire increased as a result of Israel's easing its blockade. As if to punctuate the problems in Gaza the New York Times reported today, In Despair, Palestinian man sets himself on fire which reiterated.
A United Nations report published last week put the poverty rate at 40 percent among Gaza’s 1.6 million people and said nearly 30 percent were jobless.
Last week Khaled Abu Toameh asked How Many Millionaires Live in the "Impoverished" Gaza Strip? And answered:
But according to an investigative report published in the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, there are at least 600 millionaires living in the Gaza Strip. The newspaper report also refutes the claim that the Gaza Strip has been facing a humanitarian crisis because of an Israeli blockade.
Mohammed Dahlan, the former Palestinian Authority security commander of the Gaza Strip, further said last week that Hamas was the only party that was laying siege to the Gaza Strip; that it is Hamas, and not Israel or Egypt, that is strangling and punishing the people there.
...
Informed Palestinian sources revealed that every day, in addition to weapons, thousands of tons of fuel, medicine, various types of merchandise, vehicles, electrical appliances, drugs, medicine and cigarettes are smuggled into the Gaza Strip through more than 400 tunnels. A former Sudanese government official who visited the Gaza Strip lately was quoted as saying that he found basic goods that were not available in Sudan. Almost all the tunnels are controlled by the Hamas government, which has established a special commission to oversee the smuggling business, which makes the Hamas government the biggest benefactor of the smuggling industry.
Unsurprisingly, neither the UN nor the New York Times identifies Hamas as the primary culprit for Gaza's misery.
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, European foreign aid, Gaza plenty, Iranian nuclear threat, Middle East Media Sampler, Palestinian terrorists, Soccer Dad, US foreign aid
Another area where Israel walks alone
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told the cabinet on Sunday that were Israel to encounter a financial crisis like Spain (or Greece), there is no one who would bail us out.
Israel would walk alone.
"If, god forbid, the Israeli economy spirals to a situation similar to that currently faced by Spain, there will be no organization or country that will funnel 100 billion Euros as assistance," Steinitz said at the start of a cabinet meeting.
Euro zone finance ministers agreed on Saturday to lend Spain up to 100 billion euros ($125 billion) to shore up its teetering banks.
Steinitz also said that he feels many Israeli politicians do not understand the need to remain within the parameters of the existing state budget. "I hear voices from the opposition and even from within the coalition saying that they don't understand the importance of the budget," he said.
Israel is committed to protect its economy in light of the global financial crisis, Steinitz stated, adding that his goal was to reduce the deficit to a manageable level while under no circumstance breaking the budget.
In a few weeks, we are going to read the verse in the Torah (part of Bilam's curse turned into a blessing with God's help), "For they are a nation who dwells alone and they are not counted among the nations. It's as true today as ever.
Labels: European foreign aid, Israel, US foreign aid, Yuval Steinitz
'Palestinian Authority' has sent $7 billion to Gaza since 2007
Who needs a 'Palestinian unity government' when one of these clowns is financing the other? On the eve of a 'donors meeting' for the 'Palestinian Authority' at which the 'Palestinians' will ask for - what else? - more money, the 'Palestinian Authority' has announced that it has sent $7 billion to Gaza since Hamas gained control of the coastal strip in a coup in 2007. Yes, that would be the same Gaza where
a child died on Friday because there is no fuel for the power plant and no electricity for the hospital.
'Palestinian' journalist Hani Abbas (presumably no relation to the 'moderate' Mahmoud) explains (Hat Tip:
MFS - The Other News).
The $7 billion that has been invested in the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian Authority has, ironically, helped Hamas solidify its control over the area. In other words, Fayyad and Abbas are funding their rivals in Hamas who terrorized them out of the Gaza Strip in June 2007. The Palestinian Authority is continuing to spend millions of dollars on the Gaza Strip at a time when its leaders are not even permitted to visit there; Mahmoud Abbas cannot even visit his home in Gaza.
The billions of dollars that the Palestinian Authority claims its has spent over the past five years, all from Europe and the United States, should have transformed the Gaza Strip into the Middle East's Singapore. These huge funds should have ended the suffering of the 1.5 million residents of the Gaza Strip. But despite all billions of dollars that have been poured into the area, the Gaza Strip remains a base for jihadists and various terror groups. As bad, the funds have done virtually nothing to solve the severe problem of unemployment and poverty in the Gaza Strip.
The donors, for example, have the right -- as well as the fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers of Europe whose hard work was what bankrolled this transfer of wealth -- to know which "civil servants" in the Gaza Strip receive salaries, and if they include members of Hamas's security forces. Even more urgently needed is for the donors should check on whether some of the money is being used to finance the manufacturing of rockets and missiles and the purchase of weapons from Iran, Sudan and Egypt.
These billions are not only helping Hamas to stay in power, they are absolving Hamas of its responsibilities as the ruling government to be able to take care of its constituents. The Europeans, the American and the Palestinian Authority are also wrong if it thinks that the funds will have a moderating effect on the residents of the Gaza Strip. The people there will take the money from the Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank, but at the end of the day they will still vote for Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
Time to go push your elected representatives to demand accountability. This is beyond absurd.
Labels: European foreign aid, Gaza, Hamas, Palestinian Authority, US foreign aid
Boo. Hoo. World's top schnorrers may have to cut budget
Boo Hoo. The World's top schnorrers, the largest per capita recipients of foreign aid in the World,
may have to cut their budget by half a billion dollars, if the donors don't hurry up and pay their bills.
The International Monetary Fund on Saturday urged donors to meet their aid pledges to the Palestinian Authority, warning that unless funding was forthcoming it would be forced to cut public wages and social benefits to address a deepening fiscal crisis.
The IMF said the aid-dependent Palestinian economy had entered a "difficult phase" with a severe liquidity crunch worsening since last year due to a drop in aid from Western backers and wealthy Gulf states and Israeli restrictions on trade.
An IMF report released on Saturday, prepared for a donor meeting on Palestinian aid in Brussels next week, estimated a financing gap of about $500 million. The Palestinian Authority is relying on donor aid to cover its 2012 budget deficit projected to reach $1.1 billion.
Most Palestinian aid comes from the United States, the European Union and Arab nations, allowing the Palestinian Authority to pay the salaries of public workers and benefits.
But the United States, which is trying to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, cut off funding last year when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas defied calls from Washington and made a unilateral bid for statehood recognition at the United Nations.
Palestinian officials say more than $150 million of US aid is frozen.
The IMF said just $800 million of $1 billion in promised budget support was disbursed in 2011. In addition, development aid was only $169 million compared with $370 million committed by donors.
Boo. Hoo.
Labels: Arab aid to Palestinians, European foreign aid, Palestinian Authority, US foreign aid
I'll see you 100 and raise you 20
With the Euro and the entire Eurozone on the verge of collapse as a result of financial crises in Greece and Italy, the European Union has made its financial priorities perfectly clear: It is increasing its financial assistance to the 'Palestinian Authority' (which will soon include Hamas) by 100 million Euros, making a total of about
600 million Euros ($814,560,000 based upon Friday's exchange rate).
But the Belgians have decided that even that is not enough. They are adding
another 20 million Euros on their own (link in Dutch) in addition to other contributions made by other individual European governments, and in addition to the 50 million Euros that the Belgians normally give the 'Palestinians.' (Google translation
here). So the Belgians are giving an additional 70 million Euros in all.
With Europe falling apart financially (and in many other ways), the European Union has made its priorities clear. Forget about saving Europe. It's much more important to destroy the Jews.
What could go wrong?
Labels: European anti-Semitism, European foreign aid, European Union, Palestinian Authority donors
If the money is not in the bank, what other confirmation do you need?
How's this for spin? The 'Palestinians' are claiming that they have not yet received '
official confirmation' that the US Congress put a hold on the American taxpayers' annual donation to 'Palestinian' corruption.
PA Minister of Planning Ali Jirbawi said that the US Congress's decision to halt US aid to the Palestinians has not yet been issued to Palestinian officials, PA-run news agency WAFA reported on Monday.
Jirbawi, however, played down the effect of such a move should it happen, saying that it would not affect the PA's readiness for statehood.
The PA, he said, is "fully ready to embody the reality of a state," noting the difference between the financial crisis the PA faces and its readiness for statehood.
The minister of planning also laid out plans to reduce the PA's dependency on foreign aid, which he said the Palestinian government is "exerting all possible effort[s]" to ween itself from by 2013.
On Sunday, Ma'an reported, PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki also said the PA has not received any "official confirmation" that he US aid money was being blocked.
2013? In what world?
But fear not: The European Union has consoled the 'Palestinians' by telling them that it will continue to pay
jizya to them. The Europeans remind me of the 'lady' on the left, with the 'Palestinian Authority' playing the role of the creature on the right:
If you've forgotten who they are, go
here.
Labels: European foreign aid, European support for terrorism, Palestinian state RIGHT NOW syndrome, Palestinian terrorism, Unilateral declaration of independence (UDI), US foreign aid
PA 'statehood' bid to be watered down?
Working with the quartet's special envoy, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and
'moderate' '
Palestinian' President
Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen is in the process of
walking back his 'statehood' bid to something that might garner more broad-based international support, according to a report in the London-based Arabic daily
al-Hayat.
According to the report, of the 20 paragraphs in the proposal, four of them had been agreed upon at the time of publication.
The first paragraph calls for a renewal of negotiations with Israel for a minimum of six months, followed by an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, the report said.
The next paragraph, upon which there is agreement, calls for Israel to stop implementing unilateral actions regarding settlements, in exchange for Palestinians fulfilling their security obligations.
Later on in the proposal, is a provision by which the United Nations General Assembly would invite Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to give a speech in which he declares his commitment to the United Nations' principles.
Further stipulations call on the General Assembly to receive reports from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund regarding how officials may effectively govern the Palestinian state once it is established.
Among the paragraphs which have yet to be agreed upon, are references to a declaration of independence made in 1988, rulings by the International Criminal Court on the status of the West Bank and the security barrier, and a confirmation of the right of the Palestinians to self-determination, the report said.
The Al Hayat report comes after Quartet envoy Tony Blair presented a proposal to Israel and the Palestinians this week that would immediately keep the Palestinian Authority from taking a statehood recognition resolution to a vote at the UN, enabling the sides to continue working with the international community for a formula that would enable a return to negotiations.
The Jerusalem Post has learned that under this proposal, the Palestinians would deposit their draft resolution with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who himself would bring it to the General Assembly by the end of the current session that runs until December 28, if negotiations were not renewed.
Here's the key paragraph:
It was also far from certain that even if the proposal was accepted, the two sides would be able to use the additional time to do something they haven’t succeeded in doing up to this point – agree on parameters for the talks. Nevertheless, according to one diplomatic official, this could insert a positive dynamic into the stalemated diplomatic process, and give PA President Mahmoud Abbas a graceful way to backtrack from the UN move.
YNet adds:
Meanwhile, it appears that an Israeli report will call on the international community to continue its financial support of the Palestinian Authority "so long as bilateral relations continue".
...
A report set to be submitted by Israel next week to the meeting of international donor states that Jerusalem is calling on the international community to continue its financial support towards the Palestinian Authority, so long as bilateral relations between the two sides continue.
The report which was placed on the Foreign Ministry website present the joint US, EU committee with the "steps taken by Israel for the support and development of the Palestinian economy and socio-economic structure."
Global media reported that this was a surprising move in light of the planned Palestinian unilateral declaration of statehood, but the report revealed that Israel's clearly states that the recommendation for support is under the condition of continued "bilateral relations".
Follow the money - I guess the PA was afraid of having their funding cut off.
What could go wrong?
Labels: European foreign aid, Palestinian state RIGHT NOW syndrome, Unilateral declaration of independence (UDI), US foreign aid
Brits discover 'Palestinians' paying terrorists
Britain has now discovered that a significant portion of their aid money to the 'Palestinian Authority' is going to pay 'Palestinian'
prisoners terrorists and the families of suicide bombers.
The Palestinian Authority, which gets £86million of British aid a year, has authorised payments of almost £5million to the families of ‘martyrs’.
Another £3million has been given to 5,500 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. The payments, using taxpayers’ cash donated from Britain and the European Union, have been described as ‘ludicrous’ by one Tory MP.
The Palestinian Authority, which oversees the West Bank, has introduced a new law which pays the families of suicide bombers out of its civil service budget.
According to the official Palestinian daily newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, payments to the families of ‘martyrs’ – those killed fighting Israel, including suicide bombers – totalled 3.5 per cent of the budget.
‘Every terrorist in prison, including those whose acts led to the deaths of Israeli civilians, are on the PA payroll,’ said Itamar Marcus, of Palestinian Media Watch.
‘The salary goes directly to the terrorist or the terrorist’s family, and prisoners receive their salaries from the day of arrest.’
Tory MP Philip Davies said the payments were ‘ludicrous’. He added: ‘People think overseas aid is to try to alleviate terrible poverty in places where they can’t afford to look after themselves. But it’s being put to these kind of purposes.
‘It would be bad enough at the best of times, but at a time when we have got no money, it is utterly inexcusable.’
...
David Cameron has admitted that the controversial pledge to spend billions more on international aid was a ‘difficult commitment’ at a time when spending programmes were being slashed at home.
The Prime Minister admitted that some aid had been ‘wasted’, but continued to dismiss ‘aid sceptics’.
Your tax schillings at work. Why be skeptical? What could go wrong?
Labels: European foreign aid, martyrs salaries, Palestinian prisoners, prisoner salaries, terrorist martyrs
Sky News' Tim Marshall has an epiphany
Sky News' Tim Marshall has just discovered that all those luxury hotels and restaurants in Ramallah and Gaza are being paid for by
your tax money and mine.
Even if the Palestinians declare full statehood in September they would not be truly independent, not only because of the continuing Israeli occupation, checkpoints, lack of freedom of movement of goods etc, but also because Palestine is addicted to aid and as long as you are addicted you are in thrall to your supplier.
The billions that pour in here mean the Palestinian Authority does not need to try very hard to deliver the services expected by voters, it also stifles the private sector, inflates wages and causes an internal 'brain drain'.
The restaurant I went to in Ramallah had a line of expensive cars outside and ranks of NGO workers picking their way through an expensive menu inside. The NGOs do fine work alleviating suffering, helping projects with expertise etc, but they also recruit the best of the local talent and take advantage of their charitable status to get tax breaks.
No Palestinian business can compete with NGOs which routinely triple what a local firm would pay. Many NGOs fork out 'danger money' and even 'hardship payments' to both local and international staff which further undermines the local private businesses. So the NGOs get the brightest and the highest paid, and the private firms get the rest but without the tax exemptions.
“Palestine is the best-kept secret in the aid industry,” a medical NGO worker recently told This Week In Palestine, “People need field experience and Palestine sounds cool and dangerous because it can be described as a war zone, but in reality it’s quite safe and has all the comforts that internationals want.'
Marshall even got the fact that 'Palestinians' are different from all other refugees around the world because they can bequeath their 'refugee' status to their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. It's almost like he's been reading Israel Matzav or something. I wonder how long he'll last at Sky....
Read the whole thing.
Labels: European foreign aid, human rights NGO's, Palestinian refugees, Ramallah, UNRWA, US foreign aid
Knesset panel to vote on limiting foreign funding to NGO's
A Knesset panel will vote on Sunday on two bills that would limit
foreign funding of NGO's.
The first, submitted by MK Ofir Akunis (Likud), is an amendment to the NGO Law that would limit donations a “political NGO” can receive from foreign entities to NIS 20,000 a year.
The bill defines a political NGO as one for who changing the national and security agenda of the State of Israel is an objective, or an organization that undertakes diplomatic-like activities.
The bill would prohibit NGOs from receiving funding from states or international bodies like the UN or the EU.
According to its explanatory notes, groups that call themselves “human rights groups” are really operating to “influence the internal political discourse and the character and policies of the State of Israel.”
The second bill, by MK Faina Kirschenbaum (Israel Beiteinu), tackles the same matter from the taxation side. Rather than limiting the amount of funds allowed and having to define a political NGO, it aims to revoke the tax-free status of donations from foreign entities.
If passed, all funds from foreign countries, or international agencies, will be subject to a 45 percent tax.
In order not to harm all the NGOs, the bill provides an exemption to organizations that are also funded by the government.
Kirshenbaum's bill is really just leveling the playing field because - if I'm not mistaken - Israeli donations to NGO's are taxed at the NGO level (i.e. the NGO's have to pay taxes on them). But there's no reason Akunis' bill shouldn't pass as well. In the US, foreigners are barred from contributing to political campaigns (although it's quite likely the Obama 2008 campaign violated that rule). Why should it be any different in Israel? Why should our domestic political discourse be shaped by the Euroweenies?
Labels: European foreign aid, foreign activists, NGO funding
Hamas' useful idiots: The American Left, Ban Ki-Moon and the European Union
James Kirchick has pretty much got it right when he summarizes the consequences of the Hamas-Fatah unity pact on the 'peace process' and the Western
useful idiots who support it.
Most perverse has been the attempt by the unity agreement's Western backers to conflate it with the democratic movements sweeping the Arab world. As soon as rumor of the agreement broke, the Guardian editorialized that, "The Arab spring has finally had an impact on the core issue of the region, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." Carter deemed the agreement the "Palestinian contribution to the "Arab awakening.'" Earlier this year, on the sidelines of the Al Jazeera Forum, Levy told an interviewer that, "Islamists are going to be part of this democratic tapestry. Deal with it. Put aside your prejudices."
Note that these are the very same people who consider Israel-supporting evangelical Christians apocalyptic extremists, yet applaud the empowerment and legitimization of actual, not imagined, religious fascists.
Hamas is everything that self-professed liberals should be "prejudiced" toward: obscurantist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, warlike and rejectionist.
29 United States Senators - all Democrats - decided on Friday that they would not sit on the sidelines as America's biggest useful idiot supports Hamas. They have sent a letter to President Obama urging him to
cut off aid to the 'Palestinian Authority' if it allows Hamas to join.
"The decision of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas to form a unity government with Hamas - a designated terrorist group - threatens to derail the Middle East peace effort for the foreseeable future and to undermine the Palestinian Authority's relationship with the United States," begins the letter, which was spearheaded by Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Robert Casey (D-PA).
Menendez is the third ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Casey chairs SFRC's Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs subcommittee. The letter was also signed by Democratic heavyweights Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI), who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee.
...
"As you are aware, U.S. law prohibits aid from being provided to a Palestinian government that includes Hamas unless the government and all its members have public committed to the Quartet principles," they wrote. "We urge you to conduct a review of the current situation and suspend aid should Hamas refuse to comply with Quartet conditions."
The full letter is below the fold.
It sounds like a similar House letter will not be long in coming.
House Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) agrees. "No taxpayer funds should go, they must not go" to the new Palestinian unity government, she told the Washington Post May 4.
Also over the weekend,
Israel turned down a request from another useful idiot for Hamas - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon - to release tax money to the 'Palestinian Authority.'
Israel, as of Saturday night, has refused to agree to a request by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to continue to transfer tax funds to the PA.
The request came during a phone call on Friday between Ban and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to discuss the stalled Middle East peace process and the Fatah- Hamas reconciliation.
...
As of Saturday night, the Prime Minister’s Office had not publicly responded to Ban’s request.
But on Friday, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told Israel Radio that the government had no intention of handing money over to Hamas.
“It was important to send a clear red warning to the Palestinian Authority and also to the world that we cannot countenance a terrorist government that on one hand talks about peace, and on the other hands continues, with the money that we transfer to it, to buy missiles and to rearm,” Steinitz said.
But don't worry because the useful idiots from the European Union have already made up the shortfall.
The European Commission on Friday approved the transfer of 85 million euros to the PA at the request of its Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
He had made the request for urgent financial assistance before the deal was reached with Hamas.
But the European Commission approved the matter two days after Fatah and Hamas signed their unity agreement.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Friday that the funding decision “renews our commitment to support the most vulnerable among Palestinians, and is part of our support to the Palestinian Authority’s institution-building program, contributing to the salaries and pensions of PA civil servants who work in health and education. It is important that access to essential public services remains uninterrupted and the right to social services is respected.”
She spoke despite statements by leaders from the EU, the US and even Ban that any new PA government would have to conform to the three Quartet principles: renounce terrorism, recognize Israel and abide by past agreements.
Hamas has refused to accept these conditions.
While Europe and the international community continue to send strong messages to the Palestinians about their expectations regarding its new government, in practice they have continued business as usual, including their expectations that Netanyahu continue to take bold moves for peace.
With all these useful idiots in action, what could go wrong?
Here's the Senators' letter:
5-06-11 Menendez-Casey Ltr to Obama on Fatah-Hamas Unity GovernmentLabels: Barack Obama, Catherine Ashton, European foreign aid, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Palestinian tax transfers, useful idiots
