HUMANITARIAN AID FOR PALESTINIANS

• Letter dated May 17, 2005 
• Letter dated May 18, 2005
• Video Clip that is attached to the May 18th letter
  YOU NEED TO SEE IT TO BELIEVE IT!
  Video Source: Palestinian Media Watch
  www.pmw.org.il  

May 17, 2005

To
Mr. Antonio Cavaco
Director-General for Humanitarian Aid
ECHO

Mr. Louis MICHEL European Commissioner for
Development and Humanitarian Aid

Gentlemen,

In providing funds to help some 18 million people in more than 60 countries ECHO, practices an aspect of human nature sharply contrasting with prevalent violence and terrorism.

The European Commission’s decision to allocate €28.3 million in humanitarian aid for Palestinians in the occupied territories and Lebanon is indeed very welcome. It is to be hoped however that stricter accountability will be demanded than in the past, as there is still a fear that aid intended to provide food, water and sanitation services for the poorest Palestinians may end up in the wrong hands. 

Transparency in following the money trail is frequently fogged by the fact that money is fungible, that funds received for food enable funds already available for that purpose to be diverted for less worthy purposes. It is not at all reassuring that the OLAF report was unable to exclude the possibility of misuse of the Palestinian Authority’s budget because “the internal and external audit capacity in the Palestinian Authority is still underdeveloped.”  (See http://eufunding.org/accountability/Nielson6.html)

For example, no explanation has been given for the accumulation of enormous wealth by the late Arafat, nor of its location, nor the largesse he paid to his widow, Suha. One need not look to possibly biased Western sources for information. None other than Al Jazerra reported that a bitter fight broke out over who should control Arafat’s fortune estimated to be between $4.2 billion and $6.5 billion. The report quoted
sources who said Arafat’s will transferred control of his assets to Suha’s family. But some aides believe the fortune belongs to the public treasury.

The San Fransisco Chronicle reported in November last year that French officials were investigating the transfer of $11.5 million from Swiss bank accounts to accounts in France controlled by Suha.  In 1997, PA officials found that $323 million, more than a third of the total budget, had gone missing. The IMF said last year that $750 million had been "diverted" from the Palestinian budget up to the year 2000.

Hopefully, ECHO will ENFORCE an unambiguous condition that funds provided for relief will not be used directly nor indirectly to support terrorist attacks nor incitement to terror. Although there has been a slight lowering in intensity of incitement since Arafat’s death, hate propaganda against Israel and the USA continues in PA controlled media and in mosques as in the following example excerpted from this week's official Friday sermon on PA  TV.(1). (see MEMRI website http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD90805. 

May 18, 2005

To
Mr. Antonio Cavaco
Director-General for Humanitarian Aid
ECHO

Mr. Louis MICHEL European Commissioner for
Development and Humanitarian Aid

Gentlemen,

Further to my email of yesterday I attach a Video Clip, typical of the highly professional incitement carried out by PA state sponsored media. The high professional quality indicates that it is supported by very substantial funding.

I trust therefore, that you agree on the necessity to provide controls to ensure that none of the aid funds so generously provided by ECHO, will be diverted directly or indirectly for this purpose.

Sincerely
Maurice Ostroff