Thursday, 18 August 2011
Fundamentally Freund: End US aid to the PA
By MICHAEL FREUND,
The Jerusalem Post -August 18, 2011
Why on earth should Washington continue to fund Abbas and company when
they do not hesitate to frustrate the aims of American foreign policy?
Next month, the Palestinian Authority is planning to stir up a
hornets’ nest. Ignoring admonitions from Washington and Jerusalem, PA
President Mahmoud Abbas seems intent on seeking United Nations
recognition of an independent Palestinian state.
Defying all attempts at dialogue, the Palestinian leadership prefers
to bypass the bilateral negotiating process and instead take their
case to the UN General Assembly.
In light of the Palestinians’ intransigence, and new revelations about
how they are spending Western aid money, it is time for the United
States to cut off any further funds to the regime in Ramallah.
There is no reason the American taxpayer should continue to prop up
the PA to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars each year while
that very same regime actively works against US interests.
The Palestinians know all too well that going to the UN will have no
meaningful impact on the situation on the ground. With the threat of
an American veto at the Security Council hovering in the air, there is
simply no chance that the move at the UN will bring about the
establishment of a Palestinian state. It is an exercise in diplomatic
futility, one that is doomed to fail from the start.
Nevertheless, while the move is of no practical consequence, it will
most certainly prove to be a propaganda boon.
Country after country will line up to express their support for the
Palestinian cause, and Israel will undoubtedly be portrayed as the
chief villain and scoundrel for defying world public opinion.
Calls for boycotting and sanctioning the Jewish state will grow
louder, and pro-Palestinian propagandists will have a field day
highlighting Israel’s refusal to consent to its own demise.
It won’t matter one whit that the Palestinians are the ones who have
refused to return to the negotiating table or that they rejected Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s simple and basic demand to recognize
Israel as a Jewish state.
Nor will even one tear be shed over the rockets that Palestinian
terrorists continue to fire into the South.
The show will go on, and it is the beleaguered Jewish state that will
be the target of all the venom and vitriol.
THIS PERFORMANCE at the UN is designed to turn up the pressure on
Israel in order to squeeze out still more concessions. And it is a
direct blow to the stated American aim of relaunching direct talks
between Israel and the Palestinians.
Moreover, it will further harm America’s image throughout the Arab and
Muslim world, as well as incite and inflame anti-Israel and
anti-Western violence.
In 2010, Washington provided more than $600 million in aid to the
Palestinians, including $225m. in direct budgetary assistance.
Why on earth should the US continue to fund Abbas and Co. when they do
not hesitate to frustrate the aims of American foreign policy? Even
more grievous, however, is the use to which the Palestinians are
putting the American dollars they receive.
As the British Daily Mail revealed on August 8, the PA has introduced
a new law that pays the families of suicide bombers directly out of
the official Palestinian civil service budget.
In addition, some 5,500 Palestinian terrorists behind bars in Israel,
including those involved in attacks involving American citizens, are
also receiving monthly payments from the Palestinian regime. These
outlays total 3.5 percent of the Palestinian national budget.
Terrorists serving longer sentences because they committed more
heinous acts receive larger stipends, seemingly as a form of reward
for having spilled more blood.
As a report on the subject released by Palestinian Media Watch put it,
“the US funds the PA’s general budget.
Through the PA budget, the US is paying the salaries of terrorist
murderers in prison and funding the glorification and role modeling of
terrorists.”
This cannot be allowed to continue. It is an outrage, and Abbas and
his associates must be made to understand that they cannot cash
American checks on the one hand while undermining US interests and
funding terrorists on the other.
It is time to end US aid to the Palestinian Authority.
Doing so will send a clear message to the Palestinians that their
antics must come to an end.
As the leader of the free world, America cannot and must not funnel
funds to such a regime. It is illogical, immoral and simply
inconceivable.
At a time of tighter budgets and a ballooning federal deficit, I’m
sure America can find far better uses for its hard-earned dollars than
giving out pensions to Palestinian terrorists.
The writer is chairman of Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org), a
Jerusalem-based organization that helps lost tribes and hidden Jewish
communities return to the Jewish people.
=============
US Helps Pay PA Terrorists Who Murdered Americans
by Gil Ronen - Arutz Sheva
Every single Palestinian Authority terrorist held in an Israeli jail receives a monthly salary from the PA. Terrorists who committed the most heinous crimes – and therefore received longer sentences – receive the most money, according to a report in Israeli paper Yisrael Hayom.
Citing a report received by a senior government official in Jerusalem, the paper says that the terrorists' salaries are paid from the PA's "public budget," which accounts for about 3.5 percent of its total budget.
The PA treasury receives cash from two main sources: the US pays about 50 percent of the money, and the rest is mostly from European Union member nations.
Prisoners who were jailed for periods of up to five years receive 1,400 to 2,000 NIS per month. However, terrorists serving 10 to 15 years receive 6,000 shekels, the ones serving 15 to 20 years receive 10,000 shekels, and those serving 20 to 30 years get 12,000 shekels. These are people who planned, directed and took part in the intentional sadistic slaughter of civilian men, women and children, at point blank range.
Since some of the victims of PA terror are American citizens, the information means that US taxpayers pay monthly salaries to the people who murdered their fellow citizens. The latest US citizen who was a victim of PA terror is Ben Yosef Livnat, who was gunned down in Shechem.
The terrorists' wives and children receive additional cash, and prisoners with Israel citizenship get a bonus.
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