A recent European Union audit of the Palestinian Authority found systemic problems in the PA’s finances, calling into question the ways the PA has corruptly spent its foreign aid. These revelations could possibly endanger continued generous levels of aid, which have been given over the past twenty years to facilitate the peace process.
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports that the European Court of Auditors noted that continued kleptocracy would not go unnoticed:
Last month, it adopted a nonbinding resolution saying that payroll problems raise concerns about money laundering and terrorist financing. It noted the Palestinian Authority’s controversial salary payments to the families of terrorists serving time in Israeli jails. In an unprecedented move, the parliament also called for future EU funding to be conditioned on Palestinian compliance with reform recommendations.
“Until now, EU aid was unconditional,” said Guy Bechor, an Israeli expert on the Arab world and a former lecturer at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. “Now, for the first time, we are seeing serious moves for conditionality and transparency.”
In December 2013, the auditors found that thousands of PA employees in Gaza were being paid to stay home.
A State Department report (PDF) in September of last year noted that since the establishment of the PA, the United States alone has given the Authority $5 billion with the goal of:
- Preventing terrorism against Israel from Hamas and other militant organizations.
- Fostering stability, prosperity, and self-governance in the West Bank that inclines Palestinians toward peaceful coexistence with Israel and a “two-state solution.”
- Meeting humanitarian needs.
For more information on Palestinian profligacy, read We Really Need to Talk about Palestinian Corruption, by Jonathan Schanzer, which was published in the December 2013 issue of The Tower Magazine.
[Photo: de:Euseson / WikiCommons ]
