Palestinian Authority faces cash crunch as Arab states cut aid
The United Nations is warning of a looming Palestinian cash crisis as some wealthy Arab states have cut financial aid to the PA.
By Reuters Tags: Israel news Palestinian Authority UN Saudi ArabiaArab states have cut financial aid to the Palestinian Authority so far this year, according to PA figures seen by Reuters, and the United Nations has warned of a looming Palestinian cash crisis.
"The Arabs are not paying. We urge them to meet their financial pledges," said Saleh Rafat, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee and one of the few Palestinian officials willing to speak out on the matter.
Arab government officials contacted by Reuters declined to comment on the issue.
The failure of some wealthy Arab states to pay up is frustrating Western governments, which are big contributors to the Palestinian territories, and leaving officials in the West Bank with a budget headache.
Some Palestinian officials speculate Arab states might be withholding the cash to try to persuade the Palestinian factions Fatah, which controls the West Bank, and Hamas, which controls Gaza, towards reconciliation.
Palestinian Finance Ministry figures seen by Reuters showed the PA had received $583.5 million in budget support so far in 2010. Only 22 percent came from Arab donors, the rest coming from international donors including the EU and United States.
In the last three years, the most Arab states have paid in any one year was $525.9 million, contributed in 2008, the figures show. Gulf oil exporters Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been the main Arab contributors since 2007. But in 2010, both have fallen well short of previous support.
This year Saudi Arabia had paid $30.6 million by August, compared to $241.1 million in 2009. The United Arab Emirates, which contributed $173.9 million in 2009, has yet to pay anything.
United Nations warns of salary crunch
A UN report this week said the Palestinian Authority "will face a serious liquidity crisis in September and will have difficulty paying August salaries" due to the aid shortfall. PA officials said August wages were secured.
Aid is crucial in helping pay the wages of 148,000 PA employees including 67,000 in the Gaza Strip, whose salaries support a Gazan economy that has withered under an embargo imposed by Israel since the Hamas group rose to power there.
Palestinian policymakers say donor support has been one of the main engines of strong economic growth in the West Bank, estimated at up to 8 percent this year.
Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, midway through a two-year plan to build the institutions of a future Palestinian state, warned recently of "serious financial difficulty" and said the PA faced "a significant shortfall in external assistance".
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Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad and President Mahmoud Abbas at the opening of a medical center in August 2010 in Ramallah. |
| Photo by: Reuters |
Most officials in Fayyad's government are reluctant to openly blame Arab states for the shortfall, concerned that speaking out will make them even less likely to pay.
European Union diplomats have expressed frustration at what they see as a failure by some Arab states to honor pledges made at a 2007 donors' conference in Paris.
"Europe and the United States have fully met our commitments, but certain Arab states are not doing likewise, which is a problem," a senior diplomat in a Western capital told Reuters. When asked why this might be, he said: "Ask them."
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Where's all the aid money going?? Maybe someone should start holding the leaders responsible for taking the aid money that's supposed to aid the people and instead ends up in the leaders personal bank accounts.
Perhaps the petroleum states are pulling the chain of the PA institutions--but how much petro funding is going to madrassas, charities, even Hamas, and in other endeavors, through various fronts? A good topic for investigational reporting, Haaretz.
The lactic acid build-up in the constantly-giving international hands for the PA is becoming painfully unbearable especially when the only results seen are often laziness, continually flawed militancy, incitement, propaganda, and lack of progress. Sometimes the best medicine is tough love which will hopefully spur them to use the faculties that G-d gave them to get out of their dysfunctional state and get their dignity back through personal, peaceful initiatives.
If the Arab countries do not think the Palestinian territories are worth supporting, then why should the Western countries?
Let Israel bear the responsibility for the poverty and humanitarian crisis in the territories it has created as a result of its occupation. Why should the world continue subsidizing the costs of Israel's occupation of the lands? Let Israel deal with it!
I wish all countries would cut off aide to the PA. Why? Because this aide is only subsidizing Israel's occupation of the lands. The whole Palestinian economy is artificial and donor-propped. The donor-funded economy is just a "bribe" to pacify the Palestinian population to hope they will resent the occupation less. I say let Israel foot the bill for its blockades, checkpoints, and its other measures which prevent a normal Palestinian economy from functioning. Let Israel deal with the deep poverty they are creating in the territories as a result of the occupation and the resulting resentment it creates. I am happy these Arab States are not paying, and I hope the US and EU will drop their aide. Let the responsibility fall where it should--with Israel.
Palestinians, especially after the PLO sided with Saddam Hussein. the terrible treatment of the Palestinians in Lebanon is particularly indicative of Arab feelings. Egypt and Jordan have no trouble keeping them out. Israel probably has more support today by Arab countries than the Palestinians do.
They make alot of promises at all these high profile conventions and then when it comes to paying up they don't give as generously as the said they would. The result is the west who don't have the heart to say no to the palestinians provide the extra money which the arabs never paid.
Maybe the Pals can return Shalit and end the rockets now that they are strapped for cash?
These same dictators are supported by the US. It's the people who suffer.
After all, the world only coughs up to this mafia when they tighten their blackmailing screws with a few hundred deaths. Or maybe they could dig up Arafat's billions, if they haven't been stolen already.
...assumed the best way out of the conflict is to have Gaza be part of Egypt and the West Bank part of Jordan, once the warring sides reach an agreement on the "secure and recognized boundaries". This would have enabled these two territories to be part of much larger states that function both politically and economically. On the other hand and independent state in the disputed territories, based on all assessments, will never be an economic viable entity and therefore will always be a source of unrest and conflict.
They choose not to be. When Israel built the hot houses in Gaza they were able to provide jobs for thousands. The Arabs in Gaza ransacked the Hot houses, not once, but twice and launched missles into Israel instead of working on trade. They make a choice and its for handouts, not for economic viability. Hong Kong prospers. Israel made the desert bloom. Think of where the Arab world puts their money..to blaming others. There are some exceptions. UAE for example.
that solution to the conflict sounds nice, but in practicality won't work becaus more Palestinians would upset the regimes in Egypt and Jordan. The Muslim Brotherhood assassinated Sadat in Egypt and is anti-western and against the peace agreement with Israel (Hamas not wanted?) Although there are Palestinians in Jordan, the Hashemites rule and they are friendly with Israel and the West. Many Palestinians, who are not, are kept at a distance from the ruling monarchy, and more Palestinians in Jordan, who are not friendly to the King and the West, would end the peace btw Jordan and Israel. I agree it would help if they were part of a larger state that is politically and economically sound; but it won't be Egypt or Jordan. A Palestinian State would have to be at peace with Israel and the West; the Palestinians would have to agree to be at peace with Israel and the West. They don't need Iranian and other agitators amongst them.
Palestinians are already a majority in Jordan. Do you really want a Jordan with a huge Palestinian majority in the West Bank?
Come on, all Israelis can't have settler mentality, what's going on ?
Don't kid yourself. The US aide is all about helping Israel and no one else. Without all this aid, there would be no Palestinian economy because no viable economy can exist under the impossible conditions and difficulties imposed by the Israeli occupation of the lands. So America artificially injects money into the PA to keep the economy artificially-propped up so that Israel won't have to. Without US aid, there would be stark poverty in the territories and a humanitarian crisis that would fall in Israel's lap as the occupying power of the lands. But America would never want our beloved Israel to have to deal with it, so we instead pay the bill for Israel's occupation.
No Palestine, No PA. but a big bill for Israel.
PA has a huge cashflow, and has had one for decades. In 1990, they had half a billion dollar military budget. Last year, Saudi Arbia gave a quarter of a billion dollars, and still no infrastructure. I have friends in the occupied territories, and they tell me that it is essentially a mafia run state. Businesses are 'taxed' by so many different groups. The wealthier the business, the more the 'taxes', until it goes under, hence the death of the palestinian economy.
.....but, as usual, its the Arabs who let down their own. The next step will be for them to blame Israel. Hypocrits!!
Israel has no say over any of the foreign banks, only its domestic ones. Why blame Israel for money not being given only by specific countries?
Here is some very good budget advice for the Palestinians. Instead of spending money on weapons, rockets, and any other hostile paraphenalia develop your industries and create REAL jobs. Its very nice to sit with your hand open for 43 years knowing full well that the entire world will not let you starve. Look at the State of Israel, yes it has to buy weapons from the U.S. for its own protection having hostile neighbours on all sides since its creation. If the Pals focused on building instead of destroying and furtherthing the rifts with Israel they would find the World entirely on their side. Why did Israel thrive and prosper in 62 years in spite of war??? Because they wanted to. Its easy to bail on your Muslim brothers isn't it Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Fat Cat Sheikhs of the Persian Gulf. Give them citizenship instead of keeping them in refugee camps.