Lieberman: 'Abbas must go'
Using language rarely heard from an Israeli Minister about a 'Palestinian leader' since the death of Yasser Arafat, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has bluntly said that '
moderate' '
Palestinian' President
Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen must go.
The defense minister views Abbas as a bitter enemy of Israel and says that Abbas’s policies have eliminated any possibility of advancing the peace process.
In the past two weeks, Lieberman has said several times that defense officials meet frequently with West Bank Palestinians, without the involvement or approval of Abbas and his people.
“We’ve met dozens of economists and businessmen from the Palestinian Authority, and when you ask what’s most important for the Palestinian economy, they all reply that the most important thing is to get rid of Abu Mazen,” he said on one such occasion, referring to Abbas by his nickname. “He has imposed a reign of corruption that encompasses everything. He has people in every economic sector — in real estate, the fuel market, the communications market. Abbas’ people take a tithe from every deal, and aside from the people in the inner circle, the PA leadership doesn’t allow anyone there to develop economically.
“That’s why it’s so important for him to go,” Lieberman continued. “As long as Abbas is there, nothing will happen.”
Lieberman said he didn’t think Israel should actively work to end Abbas’ rule, but at the same time, he said, it shouldn’t blame itself for the situation in the West Bank.
“Not everything depends on us,” he said. “As long as the PA’s corrupt and ineffective management continues, the economic situation there won’t improve.”
The defense minister also charged that Abbas rarely visits Nablus and Jenin, the major cities of the northern West Bank, as he prefers to take diplomatic trips abroad. “He doesn’t want to deal with problems of economics and employment,” Lieberman said. “The entire system of management there has failed.”
All of which probably makes 'Abbas' no more corrupt than any other Arab leader. But then other Arab leaders don't lead a 'people' that have a real democracy in their midst as a standard of comparison.
By the way, yes, this could well be the end of the 'peace process.'
Last week, Arab media outlets reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin was trying to arrange a diplomatic summit between Abbas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later this year. Netanyahu doesn’t use Lieberman’s blunt language, but he apparently shares the defense minister’s skepticism about the prospects for real diplomatic progress as long as Abbas remains in power. And, like Lieberman, he blames the impasse entirely on the Palestinians.
Those last two sentences are Haaretz whining, but what's more interesting is that the
Russians are denying that Putin ever made the suggestion.
Russia supports the Palestinian-Israeli settlement process, but there
are no specific agreements on holding a meeting of the sides’ leaders
in Moscow, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on
Monday.
"There are no specifics on this matter yet," he said, commenting on related reports issued by the Israeli media.
"Moscow maintains rather trust-based and active relations with both
the Israelis and Palestinians, but there are no specifics yet," he
added.
Hmmm.
Labels: Abu Mazen, Avigdor Lieberman, Middle East peace process, Palestinian Authority corruption, two-state solution, Vladimir Putin, Yasser Arafat
'Palestinian' reporter forced into exile by the 'Palestinian Authority'
A young 'Palestinian' reporter says he's staying in Europe (he won't say where) out of fear that the 'Palestinian Authority' will arrest him and send him to jail on trumped up charges of '
spying for Israel' in a best case scenario.
Qaisi said that he has been targeted because of a video he published
with MEE last September which showed PA security forces beating
Palestinians in Bethlehem during a protest against Israeli settler
attacks on the Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem.
The video showed at least 10 security forces surrounding two teenage protesters who lay on the ground as officers kicked and beat them with batons.
The MEE footage was viewed over
60,000 times and it caused outrage as it spread across Arabic and
English media outlets in the region.
“It was the first time Palestinians could see on camera the PA beating their own people,” Qaisi said.
Public anger at the beatings led
to the PA forcing four senior officers into early retirement, including
Deputy Commander of the Bethlehem Area Issam Nabhan and Deputy Director
of Operations Shaher al-Qaisi.
Six lower ranking officers were sentenced to three months in prison and barred from promotion for one year.
PA
Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said at the time that the security
forces’ misconduct did “not reflect the policy of the Palestinian
government or the Palestinian security forces”.
However, soon after, Qaisi said, the security forces approached him about the abuse he had captured on camera. Initially, they wanted him to work for the Palestinian intelligence agency, but Qaisi refused.
“After
10 days they started interrogating me,” he said. “They told me I had
three options: be killed in a car accident, be found with guns in my
home, or be accused of being an Israeli spy.”
They'll stop behaving like this if only they get a 'Palestinian state'.... Right....
Labels: freedom of the press, Palestinian Authority, Palestinian Authority corruption, Palestinian police
Your tax dollars/euros at work: 95.5% of 'Palestinians' say 'Palestinian Authority' is corrupt
Here's an astounding statistic from an AP story on
corruption in the 'Palestinian Authority.'
A recent poll found that almost all Palestinians — 95.5 percent —
believe there is corruption in Abbas' government. Nader Said, a veteran
pollster, surveyed 1,200 people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip last
month. Among Gaza residents scoring the performance of the territory's
Hamas rulers, the figure was 82 percent.
"This is the highest rate I have ever seen in all the polls I have
done," Said, who runs an independent polling agency called AWRAD, told
The Associated Press. The margin of error was 3 percentage points.
Experts say perceptions of corruption tend to be overblown. The World
Bank, for example, found in a survey of Palestinians several years ago
that far more people believed there was corruption than actually
experienced it.
But critics say secretiveness among Abbas and his advisers and a lack
of responsiveness have fanned suspicions among the public that the
political elite enjoy privileges and special deals at the expense of
everyone else.
For example, the government hasn't submitted annual budget reports
for mandatory audits for four years, effectively preventing scrutiny of
how millions of dollars are spent, said corruption monitor Aman, the
Palestinian branch of Transparency International.
...
Hamdallah's predecessor, Salam Fayyad, was credited by international
donors with making public spending more transparent. Fayyad resigned in
2013 amid tensions with Abbas and Fatah, including over the budget.
Abbas then installed Hamdallah, an academic without political experience.
"Fayyad used to host us and brief us every year," Afaneh said. "In
the current situation, we don't hear from the government or the Finance
Ministry."
Finance Ministry officials did not respond to requests for comment.
The government does post its spending plans online. But the listings are bare-boned and often puzzling, said Afaneh.
For example, out of the government's development budget of $17.9
million for the first three months of 2014, $9.4 million went for Abbas'
small presidential plane and $4.4 million for "other" expenses. A
development budget typically goes to projects that benefit the
community.
Afaneh said plane expenses shouldn't be listed under development and
that portraying one-fourth of the development budget in that quarter as
"other" raises questions.
The public has complained loudly over issues of nepotism and
disproportionately high salaries for select senior officials, some of
whom make $10,000 a month, about 10 times the average for government
employees.
"It's rare to find someone who got a job based on his
qualifications," said Diaa Abu Dhaher, 23, who has an undergraduate
degree in business administration but works as a waiter in a Ramallah
restaurant.
95.5% is the kind of number you usually see in polls in a dictatorship... oh... wait... this is a dictatorship. But usually you don't see wall-to-wall opposition to the dictator.
But the US Left and the Europeans continue to shower money on their beloved 'Palestinian Authority' because... anything to hurt the Jews.
Those villas at the top are part of the story, by the way, and they are not Jewish. They're located in Ramallah.
Read the whole thing to see who owns them and how they got them. Yes, that's part of it. And this story too is part of the Obama #Legacy.
Labels: Abu Mazen, Palestinian Authority corruption, Ramallah, Rami Hamdullah, Salam Fayyad
Please help 'Palestine's billionaires
Please make sure you support 'Palestinian' billionaires, just like the 'international community' does.
Labels: Palestinian Authority corruption, Palestinian Authority donors, terror funding
Sunday Mail discovers how British tax money is funding 'Palestinian' terrorism
The 'Palestinians' are building the palace above for
'moderate' '
Palestinian' President
Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen using £8,000,000 (about $11,310,000) of British aid money, and after visiting the site, London's Sunday Mail Online has
finally exposed it.
The shocking revelation that thousands of Palestinian terrorists, including men who have masterminded suicide bombings and murdered children, are given cash handouts from aid money will cause anger and disbelief, particularly in the wake of the Brussels massacres.
Hardly shocking to anyone who reads this blog. (There are many more links
where those came from).
In the West Bank and Gaza, despite promises by the ruling Palestinian Authority (PA) to end the practice of paying aid money to convicted terrorists, our investigation revealed that they had simply duped the West by allowing the Palestine Liberation Organisation to hand out the cash instead.
Britain gives £72 million a year to Palestine, more than one-third of which goes straight to the PA. It openly admits supporting terrorists whom it hails as heroes for fighting illegal occupation, awarding lifetime payments that rise depending on time spent in jail and the seriousness of crimes.
One Hamas master bomber has reportedly been given more than £100,000. Other ‘salaries’ go to the families of suicide bombers and even teenagers involved in the latest upsurge of deadly attacks on Israel.
DFID and the European Union are still effectively supporting these payments to thousands of terrorists – despite claims to have ended such links two years ago. This was confirmed to the MoS by former prisoners and families receiving the cash, and in official statements by the PA.
In fact, the 'Palestinians' are the main subject of the Mail's 'expose,' most of which could have been written by combing the archive of this blog and several others.
Ahmad Musa sits beside me, a convicted double murderer sentenced to life in prison. As we talk, I ask him if he did indeed kill the two men. ‘Yes, I shot them dead,’ he replies.
Yet we do not meet in a jail cell. Musa is free, released after just five years. For he is a Palestinian terrorist and he was liberated under a peace deal.
Like thousands more Palestinian prisoners, including jihadi bombers and killers of children, Musa enjoys his freedom after being awarded a ‘salary’ for life.
He gets £605 every month, others get far more. If they die, the cash goes to their family. These men are seen as terrorists, certainly by Israel, and many in the West.
But, astonishingly, the money behind these payments – described by some as ‘rewards for murder’ – flows from British and European taxpayers.
For the record, that 'salary' is about 150% of the average teacher's salary in the 'Palestinian Authority.'
The UK cash comes from the Department for International Development, which will give up to £25.5million this year to the ruling Palestinian Authority (PA) as part of a £72million aid package. Our investigation discovered that the PA passes millions on to the infamous Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) – which in turn gives it to convicted terrorists locked up in Israeli prisons and their families.
Among them are Amjad and Hakim Awad, cousins who killed Ehud and Ruth Fogel and their three children in their West Bank home in 2011. It is estimated that Amjad alone may have been paid up to £16,000 from the fund so far.
Yes, those are the Fogels HY"D (May God Avenge their blood) in the pictures above.
Hakim was 18 and Amjad was 19 when they murdered the Fogels. Unfortunately, they're unlikely to die the slow and painful deaths they so richly deserve. Instead, they are being supported by British and European taxpayers.
Also on the payroll is Abdallah Barghouti, the Hamas bomb-maker who was sentenced to life after attacks in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. It is thought he has received payments totaling £106,000.
Barghouti prepared the Sbarro suicide bombing (pictured above).
Dfid confirms that the PLO makes such payments, calling them ‘social welfare’ provisions for prisoners’ families.
It denies, however, that any British cash reaches terrorists, with the PLO taking over such payments two years ago from the PA after an international outcry.
But a Mail on Sunday investigation has found that Britain funded the PLO until last year and that the PA openly boasts of still funding salaries of convicted terrorists, even in its own official statements.
Former prisoners and the families of terrorists we have spoken to also confirmed receiving cash from both the PA and the PLO.
British aid money is supposed to be rebuilding and developing the Palestinian territories. However a devastating new report to be released this week by Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli NGO, suggests that Western donors have been duped by assertions that the Authority no longer funds terrorists.
Some Hamas terrorist masterminds have reportedly been given more than £100,000.
Other ‘salaries’ go to relatives of suicide bombers and even teenagers involved in the latest upsurge of deadly attacks on Israel. Several ex-prisoners confirmed to me that they were paid monthly stipends that started in jail.
One said they also received a ‘bonus’ on leaving prison and lucrative civil service job offers, the most senior posts going to those serving more than 15 years behind bars, even though they are not qualified.
PA officials openly defend such stipends. Amr Nasser, adviser to the minister of social affairs, said: ‘It is not a crime to be fighting occupation. These people are heroes.
‘We could be giving them much more money and it would not be enough.’ Nasser added that, if Palestine won independence, the government would seek reparations from Britain for its historic role in encouraging Zionism, saying ‘You should pay us more money.’
Cash is fungible.
There is no difference between the 'Palestinian Authority' and the PLO. It's a shell game.
And lest you think the Mail actually gets that they're doing something wrong other than wasting British taxpayer money... they don't.
The four million Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza receive the highest aid support per head in the world. Few would deny they face unique problems given checkpoints, tough crackdowns and disputed settlements.
Their 'unique problems' are entirely of their own making. They could have had a peace agreement 22 years ago and more. They didn't want one.
I don't buy the claim made throughout this article that the 'Palestinians' are 'fooling' the West. They're not. Itamar Marcus, the author of the report on which the part of this article that deals with the 'Palestinians' is based, agrees.
Itamar Marcus, the report’s author, said: ‘There is wilful blindness by the UK and EU, who were happy not to even carry out the simplest investigation.’
Indeed.
But what's most astounding about this article is that it was supposed to be a report on how British foreign aid is wasted in general. There are about two paragraphs about other places in the world, and much, much more about the 'Palestinians,' who are Europe's (and Britain's) pet project. You don't think that has anything to do with rampant anti-Semitism in Britain and Europe, do you?
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Abdullah Barghouti, Abu Mazen, Amjad Awad, British Foreign Office, funding terrorists, Hakim Awad, Palestinian Authority corruption, Palestinian Media Watch, Palestinian terrorists, prisoner salaries
Image: Abu Mazen's new palace
Life is so, so hard in the 'occupied territories.'
From
here (comments are mostly in Hebrew). According to the person who posted it, it's Abu Mazen's 'guest palace.'
By the way, there are many luxurious homes in Judea and Samaria. Back in the old days, before the existence of the 'Palestinian Authority' necessitated bypass roads in order to prevent Jews from being murdered, we used to play a game when we road through the 'Palestinian' suburbs in Jerusalem on the way to visiting Mrs. Carl's sister in Samaria. In the game, we tried to choose in which house we would most want to live (based on the house and not the neighborhood).
But if you're wondering where all that western aid money to the 'Palestinians' went, this ought to give you an idea.
Labels: Palestinian Authority corruption, real 'Palestinians'
Bluffing after all
In an earlier post, I predicted that the Israel Electric Corporation (a 'government company') was
bluffing about turning off the power to the 'Palestinian Authority.'
I was right.
PS Netanyahu has been withholding tax revenue for a couple of months (since the 'Palestinians' applied to join the International Criminal Court). A NIS 2 billion debt takes years to accumulate. There's no connection between the debt and the taxes.
Labels: Israel Electric Corporation, Palestinian Authority, Palestinian Authority corruption, Palestinian Authority donors
Is he bluffing?
For the Hebrew-impaired, the tweet above, from Israel Radio's Gal Berger, means the following:
Yiftach Rosental, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Israel Electric Corporation: The 'Palestinian Authority' owes us NIS 2 billion, and from this afternoon, we will start to limit the flow of electricity to the 'Palestinian Authority.'
Does anyone believe that this will really happen? If yes, does anyone believe it will last more than 24 hours? I don't believe it will happen at all, and if it happens, I don't believe it will last more than a very short time.
But it's long overdue. You and I couldn't get away without paying our electric bill for more than a month or two before they would cut us off completely with far less warning.
Labels: Israel Electric Corporation, Palestinian Authority, Palestinian Authority corruption, Palestinian Authority donors
Pot calls kettle black: Hamas accuses PA of 'misusing' Gaza reconstruction funds
Hamas is accusing the 'Palestinian Authority' of '
misusing' Gaza reconstruction funds.
In a statement, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said some ministers of
the Palestinian national consensus government "admitted that the money
allocated for Gaza reconstruction was being added to the PA budget."
This
confession, he said, "proves that the real reason behind the delay in
reconstruction of Gaza is that the PA has been messing with the
reconstruction money and exploiting the suffering of Gaza's people."
Because, after all, the funds were only used for their intended purpose when Hamas was in charge....
More
here.
Labels: Hamas, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, hypocrisy, Palestinian Authority corruption, terror tunnels
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
Finally? Not quite...
After years of Israeli consumers being forced to subsidize 'Palestinian' consumption, the Israel Electric Corporation is finally going to
sue the 'Palestinian Authority' a small 'Palestinian' company for
billions millions of shekels in unpaid bills.
The IEC filed suit at the Jerusalem District Court on
Thursday against the Jerusalem District Electric Company for a total of
531 million shekels ($153 million/111 million euros), a company
statement said.
JDECO is a private company which purchases electricity from Israel
to supply to Palestinian Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem as well as the
Palestinian Authority (PA).
The IEC decided to sue after "intensive contact" with JDECO and PA officials in Ramallah failed to reach a breakthrough.
But alas, this is only about a third (my math is better than Arutz Sheva's) of the outstanding electric bill.
The Ramallah-based PA also owes money to the IEC. Both the PA and
JDECO ran up debts after failing to collect the full amount they are
owed by their own customers.
An energy market insider told AFP that the outstanding debt
of the JDECO and PA to the IEC currently stood at 1.5 billion shekels
($434 million/315 million euros) of which around two-thirds was owed by
JDECO. The lawsuit only accounts for around half of that sum.
Israel's finance ministry is offsetting the PA's outstanding debt to
the IEC by deducting funds from the monthly taxes it collects on behalf
of the PA.
But in the case of JDECO, Israel has no mechanism for deducting monies, meaning the debt has ballooned, the source told AFP, saying that cutting off the power was not politically feasible.
Until recently, talks were under way to reach a solution, but the PA
abruptly halted the negotiations after the signing of a unity deal with
Hamas, the source said.
When I don't pay my electric bill, the Electric Company threatens to cut off my power within 3-4 days after the bill was due. Is the 'Palestinian Authority' too big to fail?
Labels: Israel Electric Corporation, Palestinian Authority, Palestinian Authority corruption
'Palestinian Prime Minister' Rami Hamdallah unresigns
Nearly two months after he
resigned as 'Palestinian Prime Minister' after a dispute with '
moderate' '
Palestinian' President
Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen over his authority, 'Palestinian Prime Minister' Rami Hamdallah has
unresigned.
Officials said the men had worked out their differences but details of their agreement were not released.
Officials say Abbas asked Hamdallah on Tuesday to form a new
government, and he accepted the request. Government spokesman Ihab
Bsaiso says "there will be a new government and a new swearing-in
ceremony."
Hamdallah has five weeks to form a new Cabinet. Officials said they do
not expect many changes from the current caretaker government.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Abu Mazen, Palestinian Authority corruption, Rami Hamdullah
Pass the popcorn: Dahlan sues Abu Mazen for corruption in the International Criminal Court
Mohammed Dahlan, the man responsible for one of the worst terror attacks of the second intifada, in which three children in one family lost limbs in a
rocket attack on their school bus, is suing '
moderate' '
Palestinian' President
Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen for
corruption at the International Criminal Court in the Hague. He's being represented by an Israeli law firm (Hat Tip:
Mike P).
Dahlan, who currently resides in Dubai and
Europe, hired an Israeli law firm to file the complaint with the
International Criminal Court in The Hague, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily
reported on Wednesday. The firm is run by Zaki Kamal, the deputy
president of the Israel Bar Association, and his son, Kamal Kamal.
Dahlan claimed in his suit that Abbas was out
to get him because he was seen as a potential competitor for the
leadership of the PA.
Dahlan accused the Palestinian leader of
“tyrannical behavior the utter corruption of which, along with the
corruption of his family, is damaging to the Palestinian people and the
authority’s institutions,” the report said.
A copy of the suit was sent to Abbas, with no
response; copies were then sent to UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon, US
Secretary of State John Kerry, the Human Rights Commission, the
secretary of the European Union, and Quartet representative Tony Blair.
“I and my family have for a long time been
subjected to terror and harassment, persecution, arrests, defamation,
threats to life and damage to property,” Dahlan wrote. “The campaign
against me knows no moral or legal limits, nor even national
boundaries.”
...
Dahlan was a former Fatah leader in the Gaza Strip before the
organization’s ouster by Hamas in 2007. On his arrival in the West Bank,
he was blamed by colleagues for the loss of Gaza, sparking an intense
rivalry began between him and Abbas.
Two years ago he was expelled
from the territories after Abbas suspected him of organizing a coup.
Since then he has been become a wealthy businessman and one of the
closest confidants of the royal family in the UAE.
I don't know what makes him think the ICC has jurisdiction, but pass popcorn....
P.S. Did you all pick up on the fact that the deputy chairman of the Israeli bar is an Arab? Some apartheid state....
Labels: Abu Mazen, International Criminal Court, Mohamed Dahlan, Palestinian Authority corruption
US has an ostrich-like view of Abu Mazen
Khaled Abu Toameh writes that the United States has an
ostrich-like view of '
moderate' '
Palestinian' President
Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen (Hat Tip:
Bad Blue). This is from the first link.
Abu Zayda and other Palestinian officials say that Abbas's autocratic
regime reminds them of the days when Yasser Arafat ran the Palestinian
Authority as his private fiefdom.
No one dreamed that we would reach a situation where all the powers
and top positions would be concentrated in the hands of one man, said
Abu Zayda. Today, Abbas even has more powers than Arafat.
Abbas, according to Abu Zayda, has also appointed himself as the
chief judge and prosecutor, making a mockery of the Palestinian judicial
system.
Take, for example, the case of Ghazi Jabali, the former commissioner-general of the Palestinian Authority police force.
For many years, Jabali was wanted by the Palestinian Authority for
corruption and theft. After fleeing to Jordan, the Palestinian Authority
requested Interpol's help in the arrest of Jabali.
A few weeks ago, Palestinians were surprised to see Jabali staying at
a luxurious hotel in Ramallah. It transpired that Jabali was able to
return to the West Bank after receiving a written document from Abbas
clearing him of any wrongdoing.
Abbas is surrounded by three or four people who are making important
decisions on behalf of all Palestinians, noted another Palestinian
official in the West Bank. These are the only people he consults with.
Most PLO and Fatah leaders have no idea about Abbas's strategy.
The growing resentment about Abbas's autocratic regime and refusal to
share powers and plans with other Palestinians cast doubt on his
ability to win the support of a majority of Palestinians for resuming
peace talks, let alone signing a peace treaty with Israel.
Abbas's autocratic rule and the frustration of many Palestinians do not seem to bother Kerry.
The U.S. seems to want to bring Abbas to the negotiating table with Israel at any price.
Kerry seems to be seeking to cut a deal with just one person -- who does not even have the backing of his people.
That sounds like every Arab Muslim country....
Labels: Abu Mazen, John Kerry, Middle East peace process, Palestinian Authority corruption, Yasser Arafat
Hamdallah now officially out as 'Prime Minister'
First he was.
Then he wasn't.
Then he was again. And
now he isn't again. But at least this time, it's official.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, who announced on Thursday that he was quitting just two weeks after taking office.
"The
president accepted the resignation of the prime minister and designated
him to head an interim government," Abbas spokesman Abu Rudeineh said.
The announcement came after a PA official had claimed over the weekend that Hamdallah had retracted his resignation.
The 'Palestinians' are like a bunch of circus clowns who cannot get their act together. Let me guess: Next they're going to tell us that Israel forced him to resign....
Labels: Abu Mazen, Palestinian Authority corruption, Rami Hamdullah
Best Twitter Feed Ever!
This is real. This is the Twitter feed of 'Palestinian Prime Minister' Rami Hamdallah (Hat Tip:
Lahav Harkov).
By the way, the Twitter feed is
real, but now that he resigned , he has 179 followers instead of the 54 he had in Lahav's screen cap. That's not very impressive, but the increase shows just how important the 'Palestinian Authority' government isn't.... Hamdallah has more than three times as many followers now that he's
not 'Prime Minister.' Heh.
Labels: Palestinian Authority corruption, Rami Hamdullah, Twitter
How Britain's MI6 helps the 'Palestinian Authority' torment suspects
It's widely known here that the 'Palestinian Authority' arrests and tortures 'Palestinians.' But until now, no one who was part of the torture apparatus had admitted it. Now, a former 'Palestinian Authority' officer has admitted that the 'Palestinian Authority' does what we always thought that they do. In a lengthy expose in London's
Daily Mail, he describes and attempts to justify what's been done. And Britain, along with the Untied States and the European Union, is paying for it (Hat Tip:
Shy Guy).
Nowadays, he adds, the preferred method is termed ‘shabeh’ – the hooding and tying of the prisoner in a variety of agonising positions for up to eight hours. He does not elaborate on the details, but claims: ‘It works with 95 per cent of the subjects.’ It also takes considerable skill: ‘You have to deal with it as if you were playing a guitar. Each case has its own speciality.’
This extraordinary interview is the first admission by a former perpetrator of the widespread torture of Palestinians – not by Israel, but by the Palestinian Authority (PA) which governs the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
It was given to me last week in a dusty Palestinian city. Across the table was a well-dressed, middle-aged family man with an infectious smile – a former PA official.
He spoke only on the strictest condition of anonymity as he feared becoming a torture victim himself should his identity become public. But he wanted to speak out because he was sure that the ends – a Palestinian state and the defeat of extremism – justify the means.
But perhaps the most shocking revelation is that torture sessions still being perpetrated by his former colleagues are financed with Britain’s help. Our taxpayers give £33 million direct to the PA, while £53 million is donated by Britain for various aid projects – more UK aid per head than we give any other nation.
Then again, Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, which has officers based in Jerusalem, works closely with the Palestinian agencies that carry out the torture, seeing them as sources of valuable intelligence.
The UK also provides and pays for the training of middle and senior ranking officers from every PA security agency, including the General Intelligence Service or Mukhabarat, the Preventive Security Organisation, Military Intelligence and the ordinary police force. Ironically, the training includes courses on the need to respect human rights and the rule of law.
Yes, the British are very interested in human rights,’ adds the Palestinian security man.
‘They say, “We can’t convince British taxpayers [to continue to fund the PA] if you violate them.” So we do our best. But it happens.’
Just what ‘it’ means was described by a very recent victim, a professional man in his 40s who was freed without charge two weeks ago after more than a month in Mukhabarat detention.
‘For most of the time I was held, they gave me shabeh every day,’ he says. ‘Always I was hooded, and sometimes they tied my arms in front of me and attached me to the wall, leaving me like that for long, long hours, on tiptoes. You have pain in the arms, in the legs and in the body, and swelling in your muscles. Often I could also hear screaming from the prisoners.
‘But it was worse when they suspended me with my arms tied behind me. Your body is curved, like a banana. Most of the time they do not let your feet touch the ground.’ He showed me his arms and hands – they were still puffy and swollen. ‘During the shabeh, they looked much worse,’ he added.
In another variant, the suspect was hog-tied – laid on his back on top of a chair with his wrists and ankles lashed together beneath the seat. Usually the torture happened at night: ‘When you’re exhausted, they take you back to your cell.’
...
It’s not just Britain that keeps the PA running – the US and EU are also major contributors to a £800 million a year aid package (15 per cent of the EU’s donation of £133 million comes from UK taxpayers).
The reason why a territory with fewer than 2.5 million inhabitants gets so much money is political. The Israel-Palestinian peace process has produced no sign of a breakthrough for the past 20 years, but the international community believes the only way to create a Palestinian state is to build on the PA, which is also Israel’s negotiating partner.
But with about a third of the PA budget being spent on its security agencies, the consequence of Western generosity has been the creation of a police state.
...
British Consul-General Sir Vincent Fean, who leads Britain’s diplomatic mission to the PA, has raised concerns with President Mahmoud Abbas and the PA prime minister, Salam Fayyad. But there have been no warnings that if the situation does not improve the flow of cash will stop.
Mohammed Jamil, head of the UK-based Arab Organisation for Human Rights, which has published several reports on PA abuse, said such visits were futile. ‘They have been going for years, but nothing has changed. Britain has the power to stop the torture, but it will require much tougher action,’ he said.
The ICHR’s Ms Siniora added: ‘There is no doubt things are getting worse. Last year, we inspected one prison where there was clear evidence of shabeh – we saw the hooks on the walls. But as our 2012 report will say when it is published, not one of the cases of torture that came to light has been properly investigated.
‘There is no accountability. There is a culture of impunity – there has not been a single case of an official involved in torture being prosecuted.’
On Wednesday, she added, she was visited by a senior British official from Jerusalem. ‘I told him, “You are supporting the security agencies and you are training them. You have a very big responsibility for ensuring that your taxpayers’ money is not spent on torture.” ’
But PA torture does not often make UK headlines. And liaisons are close between MI6 and the Mukhabarat, the very agency responsible for the worst abuse.
This is nothing compared with what they would do to Jews if God forbid they are ever given the opportunity. And you wonder why we don't want them to set up their reichlet on our borders?
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Britain, European Union, MI6, Palestinian Authority corruption, Palestinian Authority donors, torture, United States
None dare call it a tax: Israelis to pay 'Palestinian' electric bill?
No one will dare to call this a tax, but it really is one. The government-controlled Israel Electric Company is seeking a 3% rate hike to cover the 'Palestinian Authority's NIS 730 million debt for electricity, which is now once again unsecured because Prime Minister Netanyahu gave the money that was to pay the debt to the 'Palestinian Authority' as a 'goodwill gesture.' In plain English,
Israeli consumers are to be forced to pay the 'Palestinian Authority's debt to an Israeli government company. Sounds like a tax to me.
Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22)
is considering raising electricity rates to Israeli consumers to cover
the debts of Palestinians, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
decided to release tax money owed to the Palestinian Authority, which
Israel had withheld, in part to pay its debt to the IEC.
Israel
currently supplies all electricity needs to the West Bank. Palestinian
customers receive the electricity through the Palestinian Authority and
the Jerusalem District Electricity Company Ltd., each of which operate
in different cities in the territories. The two entities' aggregate debt
to IEC currently totals NIS 730 million. Each month, IEC sends a
warning letter about the debt, and it is in talks with the Palestinian
Authority and the Jerusalem District Electricity Company, but no
agreement has been reached on payment.
In late 2012, former
Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz halted the transfer of tax revenues
collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Authority in response
to the UN General Assembly's recognition of the State of Palestine. The
withheld funds were due, in part, to pay the Palestinians' debt to IEC.
However, following US President Barack Obama's visit to Israel last
week, Netanyahu decided to release the withheld funds as a goodwill
gesture to the Palestinian Authority. Under a decision by the political
security cabinet, Minister of Finance Yair Lapid will order the Ministry of Finance to transfer the funds to the Palestinian Authority immediately.
Electricity
industry sources told "Globes" that the decision greatly reduces the
chances that IEC will collect the Palestinians' debt. If there is no
alternative, the utility will have to record the debt in its books as
lost debt and ask the Public Utilities Authority (Electricity) to
recognize it as an expense to be covered by electricity tariffs.
A
rough calculation estimates that a 3% electricity rate hike for one
year is needed to cover the current debt in full, but this is not a
long-term solution to the non-payment of the Palestinian Authority's
debts.
Where is
Daphne Leef when we need her? Oops - sorry. She loves to raise our taxes and she loves the 'Palestinians.' What could go wrong?
Labels: Daphne Leef, Israel Electric Corporation, Israeli taxes, Palestinian Authority corruption
Your tax dollars at work: Congress tries tough love on the 'Palestinians' while Obama showers them with money
While President Hussein Obama is in our region showering money on the 'Palestinians,' Congress is trying some
tough love.
On Thursday, March 21, Rep. Ron DeSantis, Republican congressman who
represents Florida’s 6th District, will introduce the Palestinian
Accountability Act. This proposed legislation requires several things
of the Palestinian Authority without which it will not receive certain
U.S. benefits including significant financial aid and the privilege of
being referred to as anything other than “the areas controlled by the
Palestinian Authority.”
Those actions which the PA will be expected to do and to cease doing
include: end government corruption, regularly condemn terrorism,
confiscate unauthorized weapons, bring terrorists to justice, end
incitement to violence and hatred in PA media, schools, mosques, cease
all boycotts of Israel, conducts diplomatic relations with Israel just
as it does with any other country, and refuse to co-govern with Hamas.
The Accountability Act also directs that “no United States document may
refer to the areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority as
‘Palestine’ until the secretary of state has certified to congress” that
the foregoing conditions have been met.
The U.S. will also cut off its portion of funding to the United
Nations in general and its refugee agency in particular if the U.N.
recognizes a State of Palestine without the above conditions having been
met.
“Congressman Desantis is fed up with years and years of promises of
reform and peace from an entity that can not even publicly acknowledge
Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state,” Justin Roth, chief of staff
to Rep. DeSantis told The Jewish Press Wednesday evening. “Where has all of the aid gone and what has it achieved?”
Where and what indeed.
Indeed. It makes absolutely no sense for the US to continue funding the 'Palestinian' terror entity while demanding nothing in return, especially given the $16.7 trillion in US debt and the fact that Americans are being asked to sacrifice.
Labels: Palestinian Authority, Palestinian Authority corruption, US foreign aid
Suha: 'I wish I'd never married him'
Yasser Arafat's widow, Suha, now says
she wishes she'd never married him.
“The marriage to Arafat was a big mistake and I regret it,” said Suha Arafat in an interview published last week in the Turkish-language Sabah newspaper. “We were married for 22 years and it felt like 50.”
Arafat added that she had repeatedly tried to leave her husband but was denied her freedom.
“I tried to divorce Arafat more than 100 times
and he didn’t let me,” she said. “Everyone knows about this story,
especially those who were in his inner circle.”
According to
the report, the two first met in 1986 when she was a student in Paris
and engaged to a local lawyer. At the time, Suha recalled, the
Palestinian leader, 33 years her senior, was a much sought after man.
“There were many women who wanted to marry him but he only wanted me, despite the objections of my family,” she said.
Suha said that although her relatives, a well-established Ramallah family, were opposed to the union, the pair married in secret on her birthday four years later. Her
mother was furious at the development and flew to Tunis where she
angrily berated Arafat for entering into a marriage with her daughter,
which she deemed inappropriate.
“Fate chose me and it wasn’t easy right from the start,” she said.
But actually, they were the perfect couple. Yasser was, and Suha is, an anti-Semite.
Suha recalled that after her husband initiated the first intifada in
1987 — it actually began as a spontaneous uprising — the world’s media
attention was focused on him, “and it is no secret that it [the media]
is controlled by Jews” she noted.
But she's still enamored with Yasser and still denying she got all that money.
Since Arafat’s death in a Paris hospital in
2004 — she has claimed that he was poisoned — Suha said she has had
dozens of marriage proposals, but rejected all hopeful suitors with the
same answer: “Arafat was my hero.”
Suha lives on a stipend she gets from the
Palestinian Authority, which she said is barely sufficient to support
her and her daughter, and is a far distance from reports on millions of dollars that went to her through secret bank accounts.
“All the
stories about Arafat putting millions in my bank account are nonsense
and lies,” she said. The money is with those who were close to Arafat
and anyone who is determined can find it.”
Of course she doesn't discuss her $100,000 per month '
allowance' from the 'Palestinian Authority' budget....
Labels: Palestinian Authority corruption, Suha Arafat, Yasser Arafat
