Saturday, April 22, 2006

Those Penniless Palestinians

 
Joshua Pundit has an interesting post about the financial situation of the Palestinians, which is not as bad as you might think.

Those poor Palestinians! The evil, Zionist-controlled governments in the EU and the USA are withholding money from the democratically-elected Palestinian government for no reason other than Hamas’ refusal to recognize Israel and stop suicide bombers from killing Jews. How petty-minded can you get?

But the Palestinians are not without resources. According to Joshua Pundit,

Using [the salaries paid by the EU for non-existent employees] and other scams to skim off millions in stolen aid, Yasir Arafat established The Palestine Investment fund– PIF – which was set up to conceal and invest the funds Arafat diverted over the years from international donors that was supposed to go to ‘aid’ the Palestinian people. This little treasure trove is now in the hands of Mahmoud Abbas.

It’s no small amount, either. The capital is estimated at $1.2-1.4 billion and its monthly yield counted in tens of millions. And that’s just the one fund we know about. Keep in mind that the Pals still receive millions in ‘humanitarian’ aid that frees up money the Hamas government would ordinarily have to spend on the needs of its people.

However, Abbas reportedly won’t hand over a single shekel, let alone control over the hedge fund until Hamas recognizes – not Israel, but the Palestinian Liberation Organization as the paramount authority over the Palestinians. Abbas says that these ill-gotten gains belong to the PLO and he won’t release funds to an organization that refuses to recognize its authority.

Hamas has another option besides the PLO, however: Iran. The Iranians fund a number of terrorist organizations — such as Hezbollah — but they expect a lot of bang for their buck — and that bang has to involve plenty of scattered Jewish body parts.

Which way do you think Hamas will choose? Go over to Joshua Pundit and find out.

2 comments:

Wally Ballou said...

Robert Novak has spent his career being anti-Israel. Last week he wrote a boo-hoo column about the poor PA and interviewed his pal Abbas (whom he calls Abu Mazen).

Apparently the whole thing is the fault of the Jews and Bush.

Quote:

A unilateral two-state solution resulting in a fragmented, economically unviable Palestinian state concerns thoughtful people on both sides. Although terrorist violence has been at a minimum since the Hamas election victory, the prospect for renewed violence in the future worries Abu Mazen in the absence of Israeli-Palestinian dialogue. Several Israelis told me they never had seen such hostility on both sides in the Holy Land.

Asked who was going to bail out the Palestinian Authority, Abbas answered quickly: ''Nobody but the Americans.'' He also would like to see President Bush press Israel to return to the peace process and abandon unilateralism. But nobody here believes that is going to happen, which accounts for a pervasive sadness in the holy city of Jerusalem as the three great monotheistic religions celebrate sacred festivals.

End Quote


Article here

Dymphna said...

"Terrorist violence has been at a minimum since the election"???

What does Fool Novak call the shelling that's been going on? Or the suicide bombing?

Those idiots have even taken to battling each other.