The Palestinian
Authority –
A Study in Corruption: Where’s the Money?
Rachel Ehrenfeld
The
PLO was classified as a terrorist organization from its inception in
1964 until the Oslo Accords in 1993. Yet, throughout this entire time,
it continued to receive financial and political support from the Soviet
Union and its satellites in Europe, Latin America and Africa, and from
members of the Arab League, as well as other Third World countries. This
legitimization, and the accompanying financial backing, allowed the PLO
not only to continue its terrorism and criminal activities with
impunity, but also allowed the organization to fund a world-wide
propaganda campaign, win great popularity and increase its influence.
The
PLO used drug trafficking, arms smuggling, money laundering and
counterfeiting to amass a fortune estimated by the British National
Criminal Intelligence Services (in 1993 and 1994) at about $10 billion.
Its connections with international criminal organizations, drug cartels,
other terrorists groups and every rogue state, from Libya, Iran and
Iraq, to North Korea and the Sudan, set the pattern for others to
follow. The PLO’s transformation into the Palestinian Authority (PA) in
1993, as a result of the Oslo Accords, did not impede the organization’s
illegal activities. On the contrary, it enhanced them. As the whole
world gave the PA legitimacy, it abused this status to expand its
illegal activities.
With
the current intifada, the PA has undergone another change,
incorporating religion into its political rhetoric and adding jihad
to its agenda. As a result, the PA gained even more support financially
and politically within the Arab/Muslim world, much as al Qa`idah
did later. According to a soon to be published report, in 2001, the
first year of the current intifada, the amount of money
officially donated to the PA jumped 80%, from US $555 million to US
$1,002 billion.
The
following is an examination of how the PA, led by Yasser Arafat, has
systemically and systematically used corruption and crime, and diverted
funds donated for the development of the Palestinian state, to fund
terrorism and to enrich its leadership.
