Why are Hamas and PA so rich ?
Gaza is one of the poorest places in the world; there are 1,700 millionaires among Hamas members. That’s the number of millionaires in Hamas, not the total number of millionaires in Gaza. We still don’t know what the total number is. Four of Hamas top leaders are billionaires. Dr. Musa Abu Marzook is considered one of Hamas’ wealthiest billionaires. “Arab sources estimate his wealth at $2-3 billion. Khaled Mashaal. “Estimates around the world are that Mashaal is currently worth $2.6 billion, for examples. Recently Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas built a $13 million palace for himself in Ramallah. His net worth is estimated at 100 million dollars. The PA chairman’s two sons, Tareq and Yasser, own an economic empire in the territories worth hundreds of millions of dollars .In 2015 Congressman Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), then Majority Leader of the US House of Representatives, reported the US invested $4.5 billion into the Arab Palestinian cause over the last 20 years. Arab Palestinian own economic analysts estimate that the PA has received a total of $25 billion in financial aid from the U.S. and other countries during the past two decades,” ever since the PA established in the Oslo Accords. Hamas & PA leaders have proved wildly successful fund-raisers in their travels abroad; they receive hundreds of millions in donations, where does all this money go? Not to the Arab Palestinians that for sure. The Hamas, PA and the UN are screaming it’s all Israel’s fault for the suffering and impoverishments of the Arab Palestinians. Blame the Jews; the Jews have forever been the world’s escape goat for their acts of insanity.
The 1993 Oslo Accords established Palestinian self-rule over 98 percent of the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza. Since then, the PA received an estimated $25 billion in financial aid from the U.S. and other Western countries, the highest per capita assistance in the world.
Instead of creating the independent and robust civil institutions necessary for good governance, promoting peace with Israel and improving the lives of its people, the billions of dollars of international aid were used to create a corrupt dictatorship focusing on enriching its elites, inciting its people against Israel, advocating terrorism and waging a massive international campaign to demonize, delegitimize and destroy the Jewish State.
A report prepared by the European Union stated that financial corruption in the PA led to the “loss” of aid amounting to around €2 billion, which was transferred to the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the period 2008 to 2012. London’s Sunday Times reported that there is great imbalance in the spending and management of European money in the Palestinian territories
Luxury Alongside Poverty in the Palestinian Authority
In communities throughout the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, a surprising degree of luxury exists alongside the poverty. This study includes “A Photo Album of Palestinian Luxury in the West Bank,” offering a more complete picture of living standards there. The truth is that alongside the slums of the old refugee camps, which the Palestinian government has done little to rehabilitate, a parallel Palestinian society is emerging.
31 Billion dollars given and lost PA 29 Oct 2015 Good Morning America
By Calev Myers practices law in Jerusalem as a Partner at Yehuda Raveh & Co Law Offices, I would like to applaud the decision of the US House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, made this past weekend, to freeze 370 million dollars earmarked by the State Department as a donation to the Palestinian Authority “until such time” as the Palestinian Authority proves that it is “fighting terror and incitement to violence”. This decision is important for several reasons.
First, this decision should be celebrated by all American taxpayers, who are concerned with the prospect of the US economy digging its way out of trillions of dollars of debt. Unlike the financial support provided to Israel, much of which is used to buy military technology and equipment from the US market, thus achieving two goals at once — supporting Israel’s security and creating more jobs in the US economy, the monies donated to the Palestinian Authority have actually created less stability
The Secret World of the Palestinian Authority by Bassam Tawil March 29, 2018
A 2018 report published this week offers a rare glance into the secret world of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which was established in 1994 in accordance with the Oslo Accords signed between Israel and the PLO. Headed by Mahmoud Abbas, the PA has since received billions of dollars in aid from the US, EU and several other donor countries. However, the failure of the donors to demand accountability and transparency from the Palestinian Authority has deprived Palestinians of a significant part of the funds. It has also encouraged Palestinian leaders to continue pocketing millions of dollars, enriching their private and hidden bank accounts.
New leaks expose rampant corruption among Palestinian leaders June 4, 2019
The Palestinian Cabinet gave itself a massive secret pay raise in addition to other illegal financial perks behind the backs of the constituents it supposedly represents.
While unemployment remains high and economic growth slow in the Palestinian-controlled areas of Judea and Samaria, the Palestinian Cabinet secretly gave itself a series of lavish payouts and perks, highlighted by a 67% salary hike. “I think this is just the tip of the iceberg of corruption in the Palestinian Authority, considering that we couldn’t have access to more important information,” said Majdi Abu Zeid, a researcher at the anti-corruption watchdog group Aman.
Palestinian Poverty: Who Isn’t Sharing the Wealth? BY HONESTREPORTING STAFF JUNE 27, 2019
The default reason for Palestinian poverty is “Israeli occupation.” Thus, by extension, since Israel wishes to prolong the occupation, Palestinian poverty is in Israel’s interest. As the argument goes, Israel wishes to force its enemy into submission and therefore keeps the Palestinians impoverished. This argument however doesn’t account for something befuddling – the wealth of the Palestinian leadership. If a nation wishes to defeat another nation, it looks to weaken the other nation’s leaders. In the case of the Palestinians:
Professor Ahmed Karima of Al-Azhar University in Egypt claims that Hamas has some 1,200 millionaires among its members, but is unwilling to reveal his sources.
Corroborating this claim, albeit on a lesser scale, Deborah Danan writes: Pan-Arab London based paper, Asharq al Awsat, which is considered a reliable media outlet, recently ran a story saying there are 600 millionaires in Gaza.
Moreover, as Ynet detailed: In 2010, Egyptian magazine Rose al-Yusuf reported that [Hamas leader Ismael] Haniyeh paid for $4 million for a 2,500 m sq parcel of land area in Rimal, a tiny beachfront neighborhood of Gaza City.
Haniyeh is not alone, as Dr. Moshe Elad states: ‘Global estimates say (Hamas leader Khaled) Mashaal is worth $2.6 billion,’ but Arab commentators, with other sources, say he is worth between 2 and 5 billion, ‘invested in Egyptian banks and Gulf countries, some in real estate projects.’
According to sources in Gaza, Haniyeh’s wealth, like others high up in Hamas, came primarily from the flourishing tunnel industry. Senior Hamas figures, Haniyeh included, would levy 20 percent taxation on all of the trade passing through the tunnels.
That’s a full 20% (!) that instead of helping poor Palestinians, is used to pad the pockets of their leaders. Moreover, this means that if more donations flow into the Gaza Strip, before it is determined how to help the poor Palestinians, the leaders skim off their share off the top and in turn get wealthier. Accordingly, the poorer the Palestinian people are portrayed, the more wealth opportunities for their leaders.
26 Sept 2018 United Nations Relief And Works Agency For Palestine Close To A Billion Dollars In Aid This Year Is Unaccounted For /Missing
The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which is dedicated exclusively to assisting Palestinians, has begun to lose the support of some of its most loyal donors. Following reports of widespread corruption and abuse at the highest levels of the organization, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Belgium have suspended their contributions. This action may signal the readiness of other countries to pull their support if a full investigation confirms the initial allegations. What may be emerging is a rare opportunity to dismantle a wasteful organization whose ties to the Palestinian cause have protected it until now.
An internal UNRWA ethics report leaked by the press in late July contained shocking allegations of “sexual misconduct, nepotism, retaliation, discrimination and other abuses of authority, for personal gain, to suppress legitimate dissent, and to otherwise achieve their personal objectives.” UN investigators are now reviewing these initial findings.
From an initial refugee population of around 700,000, UNRWA now has responsibility for more than 5.4 million Palestinians — a number that includes only about 30,000 individuals who fled their homes during Israel’s war for independence. Nonetheless, UNRWA schools promote a “right of return” to Israel for all 5.4 million refugees, even those who now reside in Gaza and the West Bank, which would be part of a future Palestinian state. This sort of return would make Jews a minority in the world’s only Jewish state. It also seems especially menacing given that UNRWA schools, textbooks and teachers often promote martyrdom, violence, the demonization of Israel, and religious bigotry.
Moreover, the UN’s outsize focus on Palestinian refugees has come at the expense of the world’s 71 million forcibly displaced persons. UNRWA spends nearly twice as much per refugee and has 30,000 staff, compared to 16,800 for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which deals with all other displaced populations. Regrettably, UNHCR struggles to secure adequate funding.
Corruption within a self-serving and self-preserving bureaucracy is entirely predictable. UNRWA has become a vestigial organ, no longer serving its purpose of helping actual refugees. Eliminating a bloated, bureaucratic UNRWA and redirecting its work towards more efficient bodies determined to solve the problem will ultimately serve all interested parties. It would cause some pain, but it is better than condemning another generation of Palestinians to grow up in the camps, where they learn to blame Israel for their suffering.
SEIZE HAMAS INTERNATIONAL ASSETS – BILLIONS OF DOLLARS MISSING OF INTERNATIONAL AID FOR PALESTINIANS – In 2014, Hamas was ranked number 2 on the Forbes list of The World’s 10 Richest Terrorist Organizations. Hamas has turned itself into a huge conglomerate, taking for itself about 15% of Gaza’s economy through taxes and levies on goods entering Gaza. A large portion of their money came from taking for themselves a large share of the international aid coming into Gaza. Also, Hamas profits from hundreds of businesses it runs, such as real estate, insurance, banking, hotels, tourism and banquet halls. There are 1,700 millionaires among Hamas members. That’s the number of millionaires in Hamas, not the total number of millionaires in Gaza. We still don’t know what the total number is. Four of Hamas top leaders are billionaires. Dr. Musa Abu Marzook is considered one of Hamas’ wealthiest billionaires. “Arab sources estimate his wealth at $2-3 billion. Khaled Mashaal. “Estimates around the world are that Mashaal is currently worth $2.6 billion, for examples
2018 Since the division, the Palestinian government has paid Hamas about $17 billion, and at the same Hamas is collecting taxes and not sending the revenues back to the government, SO WHERE IS THE MONEY ?
