June 1, 1997
The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) calling for
the suspension of the $500-million U.S. aid package to the PLO, in the wake
of the latest evidence of widespread financial corruption in the PLO’s
Palestinian Authority regime.
A secret 600-page report completed by the Palestinian Authority’s
auditing office last month found that $323-million–which is almost 40% of
the PA’s annual budget–has been wasted or misused by PLO/PA officials,
according to the Jerusalem Post (May 25, 1997).
The Middle East Peace Facilitation Act (MEPFA), which sets
conditions for U.S. aid to the PLO, will expire on June 30, 1997. The ZOA
is urging Congress to refrain from renewing MEPFA until the Clinton
administration releases the Government Accounting Office’s report on the
PLO’s assets, and until there are ironclad guarantees that U.S. aid will
not be squandered or pocketed by PLO officials.
After a study by British Intelligence found that the PLO has assets
of $8-10 billion, and an annual income of $1-2 billion, Congressman
Benjamin Gilman, chairman of the House International Relations Committee,
asked the U.S. government’s General Accounting Office (GAO) to prepare a
detailed assessment of the PLO’s assets. The report was completed in June
1995, but the Clinton administration declared the report “classified,”
barring it from public view.
“The time has come for the Clinton administration to release the
1995 GAO report, and instruct the GAO to prepare an update covering
1995-1997,” said ZOA National President Morton A. Klein. “If the PLO has
billions of dollars in hidden assets, there is no reason for
more American taxpayers’ dollars to be sent to Gaza.”
During the nearly four years since the Oslo accords were signed,
there has been mounting evidence that the PLO has misused donations from
the international community:
- An investigative report by the New York Times earlier this year
found, among other things, that “some Palestinian Authority officials have
abused their power to grant access only to the
well-connected or those willing to pay an extra price…The PA has granted
certain companies monopolies to import crucial commodities to Gaza… live lavishly, making the construction of the
$1.5-million villa now underway a magnet
of particular complaint. Nasser Sarraj, the Minister of Commerce and
Economy, defended the project, even though it was never subject to a vote
by the elected Palestinian Legislative Council and even though its source
of financing has never been made pubic. ‘Who he says he doesn’t have the
right to live in a villa worth $1.5 million, or even $10 million,’ Mr.
Sarraj said. ‘Those who say he doesn’t are spies and collaborators for
Israel.’ ” (New York Times, February 2, 1997) -
The PLO has used at least $47-million in foreign donations to
illegally purchase property in Jerusalem, to buy private apartments for PLO
bureaucrats, and to finance covert political activities, according to
internal correspondence between PLO chairman Yasir Arafat and officials of
the PLO’s PECDAR agency, which handles donations from abroad. (New York
Times, June 30, 1995; Washington Times, Aug. 5, 1995) -
An additional $13 million in foreign donations for Gaza and
Jericho was diverted by the PLO for other purposes in Lebanon. (Jerusalem
Post, March 22, 1995) -
In December 1994, the PLO took $1-million from donations
intended for humanitarian purposes and gave to the PLO Martyrs Fund, based
in Amman. (Jerusalem Post, March 22, 1995) -
A Norwegian donation of $100,000, for an agricultural project in
Gaza, disappeared. (Jerusalem Post, Nov. 7, 1994) -
A British donation to the PLO was used to pay for Yasir Arafat’s
plain-clothes “preventive security forces,” even though the donors had
specifically requested that it not be used for the purpose. (Jerusalem
Post, Nov. 7, 1994)
