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Posted 26 July 2000
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<The New York Sun<Arafat's Wrong TurnBy Rachel Ehrenfeld
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Wed, 05 Mar 2003
------------------------------------------------------------------------Yasser Arafat's adherence to the "road map" for peace designed by the Quartet - America, the European Union, the Russian Federation, and the United Nations - on February 14 in London, is as plausible as Saddam Hussein's disarmament.
In 1994, when conditions were imposed by the international donor community on the Palestinian Authority in order to receive economic aid, Mr. Arafat declared: "I refused and I will never accept! I completely refuse any controls by anybody on Palestinian Autonomy, except the Palestinians themselves." Despite Mr. Arafat's refusal to comply, the donors ignored his statement and kept pouring money into the PA coffers. From the Oslo Accords until the end of 2001, more than $5.5 billion was given to the PA in aid. This translates to $1,330 a Palestinian. In comparison, the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after World War II provided each European with $272 in today's dollars. By 2003, the international aid totaling $5 billion in unmonitored funds has done little for the Palestinian economy - 60% of the Palestinian people have to survive on less than $2 a day. However, the lack of accountability for the funds has enabled Arafat to create a Palestinian Authority that is a full-fledged terrorist entity, perpetuating the suffering of both the Palestinian and the Israeli people. International and domestic demands for reform forced Mr. Arafat to make mostly cosmetic changes in a new Cabinet, which was approved by the Palestinian Legislative Council in October 2002. But Mr. Arafat has successfully circumvented the demand made by America that he be removed from a decision-making position in the Palestinian Authority. He has done so with the help of members of the European community, who keep referring to Mr. Arafat as the "legitimate leader" of the Palestinian people. America joined the Quartet meeting only after the Europeans had negotiated with Mr. Arafat in Ramallah, independently.
Mr. Arafat, who has agreed to appoint a prime minister, continues to postpone such an appointment. His initial agreement is seen by most as an attempt to deflect criticism from the international community, and to buy time and further financial support. Mr. Arafat is not about to abdicate his power. Even when a suitable candidate is found, he will be "fully answerable to President Arafat," according to chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. To get some idea of how this might work, take the case of Salam Fayyad. Last summer, under heavy American pressure, Mr. Arafat appointed Mr. Fayyad as the Palestinian Authority's new finance minister. Although Mr. Fayyad has managed to consolidate all PA ministries' known incoming funds into a single account, supervised by him, he has failed in his efforts to make those ministries accountable for other businesses they own, and to change the PA's practice of disbursing payments in cash, thus enabling the funding of terrorists. Instead, Mr. Arafat, bypassing Mr. Fayyad, continues to authorize the transfer of funds to the terror infrastructure in the Palestinian Authority, including payments to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and to metal workshop owners that produce the Kassam rockets, used to attack Israeli targets.
Another example is Mr. Fayyad's inability to stop Mr. Arafat's direct payments to terrorists held in Israeli prisons and to their families, or Mr. Arafat's payment of $2,000 to the foreign minister of Cyprus in support of expelled Palestinian terrorists that Cyprus had agreed to take in as part of the agreement to lift the siege on Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah last fall.
Mr. Fayyad has also failed to eliminate the 15% "tax" imposed by the Palestinian Authority on their employees. This money, which is unaccounted for in the PA budget, goes to Fatah. An indication of how Fatah is using the money is Fatah's official statement boasting the success of its newly designed and domestically produced rocket, the Al Buraq, which was fired by the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades on February 24 against Israeli civilians. Likewise, the PA deducts payments from its employees for pension funds, but fails to deposit the money in any pension fund. PA documents discovered by the Israelis provide information on how this money was spent. Part of these funds was used to pay the salaries of the inflated police force the Palestinian Authority created in violation of the Oslo Accords. Other parts of the pension fund were used for an investment in telecommunications. Together, these unauthorized expenditures amounted to $36 million. By September 1997, only $20 million remained in the fund; $104 million had disappeared. Later, Mr. Arafat's adviser, Muhammad Rasheed, transferred $10 million to a liquid account in a Gaza bank. Along with the remaining $10 million, this money has never been accounted for.
When the involvement of Fuad Shubaki - the former PA chief financial officer, and a close friend and confidante of Mr. Arafat - with the arms-smuggling ship Karin-A became public, Mr. Arafat, under heavy American pressure, detained him. PA documents captured by the Israeli Defense Force in Gaza reveal that despite the official replacement of Mr. Shubaki, he continues to direct the Financial Directorate of the Palestinian Security Service from a PA facility in Jericho, where he is said to be under arrest and under American and British supervision. He conducts his business by cell phone.
Examples abound to provide sufficient evidence that Mr. Arafat is not about to change his attitude. He drew his "road map" clearly in his June 6, 2001, interview on Radio Palestine: "War is a dream, peace is a nightmare," he said. Despite Mr. Fayyad's good intentions, as long as Mr. Arafat remains in charge, no real change or reform will be possible in the Palestinian Authority.
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Ms. Ehrenfeld is the director of the New York-based American Center for Democracy, and is the author of the forthcoming book, "Funding Evil."