The Plot exposed and the Elders are foiled again
The upper echelon of the Palestinian Authority got caught and called to account for treating the public coffers of the Palestinian people like their own personal slush fund. So who is to blame for the sad sorry state of corruption with the PA? The Jerusalem Post carries the official response.
Former top Palestinian Authority anti-corruption official Fahmi Shabaneh issued an ultimatum to PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday to remove the corrupt officials in the Palestinian leader’s office within two weeks or he will expose more cases of corruption that “would seriously embarrass the PA and even harm its relations with Arab and Muslim countries as well as donors.”
According to Shabaneh, the material he will expose is far more severe than what had been published so far. In response, the PA published a statement on Wednesday morning saying that Shabaneh’s allegations were part of an Israeli conspiracy aimed at undermining Abbas because of his refusal to return to the negotiation table unconditionally.
Shabaneh, at least sounds like a realist;
“Had it not been for the presence of the Israeli authorities in the West Bank, Hamas would have done what they did in the Gaza Strip,” Shabaneh told the Post. “It’s hard to find people in the West Bank who support the Palestinian Authority. People are fed up with the financial corruption and mismanagement of the Palestinian Authority.”
The Jerusalem Post also carries an in-depth interview with Sabaneh which is worth the few minutes it takes to read but mark my words in a few years some earnest Israeli university student will write a thesis attempting to prove the Israeli occupation is the result of widespread and systematic corruption within the Palestinian Authority.
(Reuters Photo)While I can understand Sabaneh’s prediction that at some point in the future Hamas will overthrow Fatah from power and control in the West Bank; its really no solution. Any Hamas’ leader who lives in a refugee camp but has granite countertops in his kitchen is not who I would bank on of being a fiscally responsible guardian of the public trust or coffers.
