World Tribune.com

Report: Palestinian Authorty a poor investment

Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Tuesday, November 29, 2005

JERUSALEM — Wracked by massive corruption and increasing violence, the Palestinian Authority has been deemed unsuitable for foreign investment or significant international aid.

A report said the breakdown in order in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has ruled out major foreign investment or government aid to the PA. The report also cited massive corruption and embezzlement by senior PA officials.

"At present, all international investment activities in Gaza are subject to the ultimate control of local warlords and terror groups," a report by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs said. "The current instability in Gaza and the West Bank makes it virtually impossible for foreign investment and, to a degree, foreign aid to be managed transparently and distributed properly."

[On Nov. 25, Marwan Barghouti, sentenced to life for the killing of five Israelis, won the primaries in the ruling Fatah Party. Barghouti's victory sparked calls by a leading Israeli politician for his release.]

Authored by Pinhas Inbari and Dan Diker, the report cited the takeover of the Gaza Strip by militias and organized crime. The report said senior PA officials, including security agency chiefs, have sought to exploit rising property values in Jewish settlements abandoned by Israel in September 2005.

The Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip has increased tension between crime families and militias in the Gaza Strip. The report said the value of property adjacent to the evacuated Jewish settlements rose from $52,000 dollars per acre in May 2005 to $300,000 per acre after the Israeli withdrawal.

"An unprecedented competition among local Gaza warlords and crime families has broken out over control of Gaza real estate, as well as for hundreds of millions of dollars in international financial investment and aid earmarked for infrastructure development," the report said.

The report cited the role of PA Civil Affairs Minister Mohammed Dahlan, the former longtime chief of the Preventive Security Apparatus. Dahlan was said to have established racketeering networks that yielded hundreds of thousands of dollars a month from Palestinian industrialists. He was also said to have received fees from Palestinians who sought to enter Israel.

"The security problems in Gaza do not emanate from the Hamas-Fatah rivalry alone, but also from an internal crisis within Fatah that pits one Palestinian security organization against another," the report said.

The report said the assassination of former PA military intelligence chief Mussa Arafat in September 2005 served as a warning to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas against interference with militia control over the Gaza Strip. The PA has failed to arrest any suspects in the killing.

"The resulting anarchy has further discredited the PA, which faces a growing challenge from the radical Islamic Hamas in the run-up to legislative elections scheduled for January 2006," the report said. "In addition, the reigning state of lawlessness and anarchy in 'post-disengagement Gaza' must be taken into account by international aid and investment groups that are seeking to help Mahmoud Abbas in his efforts to rehabilitate Gaza."


Copyright © 2005 East West Services, Inc.

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