Written evidence submitted by the European
Coalition for Israel
EUROPEAN LEADERSHIP
The Union's action on the international scene
shall be guided by, and designed to advance in the wider world,
the principles which have inspired its own creation, development
and enlargement: democracy, the rule of law, the universality
and indivisibility of human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect
for human dignity, equality and solidarity, and for international
law in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter.
Article III-193 of EU Draft Constitution[7]
ABSTRACT
The European Union and its member states represent
the largest single donor bloc financing the Palestinian Authority
and its affiliated institutions. We believe that European taxpayers'
money was and probably still is being channelled to the PA and
its affiliates in ways that contradict core EU principles, contributing
to the prevailing culture of corruption and incitement whilst
failing to address the underlying causes of Palestinian poverty.
We note recent efforts by the Commission to begin to address many
of the issues outlined in this paper and propose an alternative
funding model, which we believe is more in line with interests
and values of the European Union as a whole.
I. Overview
The amount of European funding to Palestinian
Authority has increased dramatically since the outbreak of the
Palestinian intifada in September 2000. The EU and
its 25 member states currently donate some 500 million a
year to the PA and its affiliates, more than half of which comes
directly from the EU budget. [8]In
October 2005, Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner proposed doubling
that amount in the wake of Israel's disengagement from the Gaza
Strip and called on member states and other donors to follow her
lead. [9]
Although the EU has itself stated that it is
the largest single donor to the PA, foreign aid from literally
all over the world continues to pour into the Palestinian areas.
According to Nigel Roberts, the World Bank's senior representative
for the West Bank, other donors have meanwhile doubled their annual
disbursements to almost $1 billion, the equivalent of over $310
per person per year. This makes the level of foreign contributions
to the Palestinians the highest per capita aid transfer in the
history of foreign aid anywhere. [10]
Due to such a well-meaning flow of aid one would
rightly expect the social situation under Palestinian Authority
control to have improved dramatically over recent years. However,
United Nations figures indicate that the situation in the Palestinian
areas continues to be one of deep poverty and great need. UK-based
Charity Christian Aid claims that more than 2.2 million
people in the territories survive on less than £1.05 a day
(approximately 1.50). The situation is even worse in Gaza
where citizens live on average on £0.85 a day (approx. 1.24)way
below the official UN poverty line. [11]
The question of what happened to all the money
is partially answered by high-ranking Palestinian officials themselves.
Mohammad Dahlan, the current PA Minister for Civil Affairs and
former Interior Minister under Yasser Arafat told Kuwait's Al
Watan newspaper in August 2004 that of all of the funds which
foreign countries had donated to the Palestinian Authority, a
total of $5 billion have "gone down the drain, and we don't
know to where."[12]
The misuse of foreign aid within the PA is apparently
on such high level, that immediately after Israel's disengagement
from the Gaza Strip the Harvard trained Governor of the Palestine
Monetary Authority, George T Abed stated: "If you poured
in a lot of financing at this time, it would not have a big impact.
It would not be very effective. Governance is poor. It would be
wasted."[13]
Less outspoken on the whereabouts of the missing
millions are the EU institutions themselves. A carefully formulated
statement of the European Commission ombudsman and official antifraud
agency OLAF earlier the same year simply says that the ".
. . risks of misuse of the PA budget and other resources cannot
yet be excluded. This is primarily due to the fact that the internal
and external audit capacity in the PA remains underdeveloped."[14]
II. Scale of European Aid
Between 1994 and 2001, the EU and its member
states contributed 3.47 billion to the Palestinians, either
directly to the PA or through affiliated organizations,[15]
far exceeding initial pledges made in the 1993 post-Oslo international
donor conference in Washington DC.[16]
In response to the economic collapse in the
Palestinian territories brought on by the intifada, the
EU alone has given in excess of 1 billion since 2002 and
now plans to double annual disbursements from 2006.[17]
Member states have kept pace with sustained donations reaching
similar levels.
Thus, in the decade following the signing of
the Oslo accords (1993-2003), the 650 million pledged by
the EU itself was followed up with some 1.8 billion in aid;
while the total European funding package, together with member
state contributions, commitments and loans, increased fourfold
to a staggering 4.5 billiona figure more than twice
the amount initially pledged in 1993 by the international community
as a whole. [18]
The same pattern is duplicated globally. From
1993 to the start of 2004 it is estimated that the PA received
the equivalent some 4.4 billion in direct and indirect aid
contributions from other western nations, the World Bank and members
of the Arab League, in addition to the 4.5 billion in funds
from Europe. [19]
III. Use of European Aid
As the European Coalition for Israel
we believe that there is a fundamental discrepancy between the
foundational moral and ethical values of the Union as outlined
in the Draft EU Constitution[20]
and the rapidly expanding 500 million annual aid programme
to the Palestinians.
Furthermore, we believe that European taxpayers'
money was and probably still is being channelled to the PA and
its affiliates in ways that contradict core EU values, contributing
to the prevailing culture of corruption and incitement whilst
failing to address the underlying causes of Palestinian poverty.
As stated by James Price, a consultant to the
Palestinian Investment Fund and co-author of "The Economic
Road Map," a detailed analysis of the Palestinian economy
published in July 2005, [21]the
funds have not done much beyond ensuring a minimum standard of
living. "Many of the donor programs have not only been ineffective,
they have harmed the economy," Prince told the San Francisco
Chronicle in September 2005. "Cash is not the issue."
[22]
A. Corruption
Behind the reported disappearance of billions
of dollars of international aid donated to the Palestinians since
1993, stands a PA culture of nepotism, graft, extortion and theft
that characterised the chaotic rule of late PLO leader and PA
Chairman, Yasser Arafat and continues to haunt the government
of Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen).
As far back as the mid 1990s when the post-Oslo
euphoria was beginning to wear thin, ordinary Palestinians living
in the territories became increasingly aware that international
aid was not reaching them and began openly criticising the monopolies
for fuel, cement, cigarettes and other key commodities held by
senior cabinet ministers and Arafat loyalists.
The Palestinian Legislative Council meanwhile
began challenging Arafat over his attempts to exclude them from
the annual budgeting process. In 1997, the PA Cabinet offered
to resign en mass after an internal report found widespread corruption
by PA ministries, including the Office of the Ra'is -Arafat himself.
The audit, which was ordered by Arafat and conducted by a close
relative, concluded that $326 millionor 37 percent of the
PA's budgetwas unaccounted for due to fraud, corruption
and mismanagement. [23]
In December 1999, the UK-based Daily Telegraph
reported that disgruntled PLO officials had hacked into the organisation's
computers at its Tunisian headquarters and discovered about £5
billion (approx. 3.5 billion) in numbered bank accounts
in Zurich, Geneva and New York, extensive PLO-owned shares in
the Frankfurt, Paris and Tokyo stock exchanges, plus lucrative
properties acquired in several Western European capitals. [24]
In September 2003 the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) published a study stating that they had identified
$900 million in public assets that had been diverted into the
private accounts of the Palestinian leadership including "$591
million in PA Tax revenue" and "$300 million profits
from commercial investments." [25]
Two months later reformist PA Finance Minister
Salaam Fayad assisted CBS News with a "60 Minutes' expose
that claimed Arafat had diverted nearly $1 billion in public funds
to secret bank accounts. [26]Fayad's
openly acknowledged contribution to the program also included
details that the then PLO leader was channelling an additional
$100,000 each month to his wife Suha in Paris. [27]
In July 2004, former Palestinian Legislative
Council Speaker Rafik al-Natsheh described Arafat as the "protector
of corruption and the corrupt," adding that the PA did not
need foreign aid. There were billions of dollars that were in
the possession of the Authority, he said, "but no one knows
anything about the funds." [28]
By January 2005, not long after Arafat's death,
the pan-Arab satellite network Al-Jazeera estimated his
private fortune at between $4.2 billion and $6.5 billion, some
$1.5 billion more than it had been reportedly worth in 1996. [29]
Notwithstanding the efforts of Abbas since his
election in January 2005, the engrained culture of corruption
within the PA and the associated intra-Palestinian violence appears
only to have worsened during the post-Arafat era and continues
to this day.
In July 2005, PLC Deputy Speaker Hassan Harisha
told the London-based Arabic daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi, that
Abbas was incapable of rooting out corruption since he was surrounded
by Arafat-era advisors who were "just as corrupt" as
ever. [30]An
investigate panel of the Legislative Council, meanwhile, concluded
in October the same year that the cabinet of Prime Minister Ahmed
Qurei had neither discussed the security chaos in the territories
nor was ever asked to do so. Legislators concluded that there
was a "clear failure," by Qurei's government to implement
the PA's own reform agenda or prosecute the "war against
corruption." [31]
B. Terrorism and Incitement
"[T]errorism constitutes one of the most
serious threats to democracy, to the free exercise of human rights
and to economic and social development. Terrorism can never be
justified whatever the target."
"Framework decision of the EC to combat
Terrorism," 19 September 2001. [32]
A second major discrepancy between Europe's
funding of the Palestinians and its own basic value system is
the money flow into a regime that directly and indirectly supports
and fosters terrorism.
The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the terrorist
group behind countless suicide bombing atrocities during the recent
Intifada, remains an integral part of PA Chairman Mahmoud
Abbas' governing Fatah party. Furthermore many of the group's
active members continue to draw regular payments from the PA salary
budget, provided each month directly from the EU.In a BBC interview
in November 2003 both al-Aqsa leaders and Fatah officials confirmed
that there was no distinction between the "political"
and "military" arms of the movement, and that al-Aqsa
members had received some $50,000 in monthly expenses from the
PA. [33]
In June the following year, the point was reinforced
by PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei who, speaking in Arabic to the
London-based newspaper Asharq al-Awsat said that the political
leadership of Fatah took full responsibility for the group, effectively
promising them immunity from punishment for terrorist acts. [34]
The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades remain outlawed
by the EU as a terrorist organisation, being responsible for the
maiming and killing of hundreds of civilians, both Israeli and
Palestinian. [35]It
is incomprehensible, therefore, that the EU has continued to fund
the PA in recent years in the full knowledge that European taxpayers'
money with which they are charged could be directly used in the
financing of terrorist acts.
It is also incomprehensible how the EU continues
to justify its half-hearted dealings with both Hamas and Hizb'Allah.
Both organisations openly confess an ideological commitment to
fundamentalist Islamic terror but at all levels of the Union are
still considered viable political and social entities capable
of being co-opted into the cause of peace.
That Hamas will be allowed to participate in
EU-funded elections in January 2006 is unacceptable. Hamas openly
calls for the destruction of the state of Israel and is responsible
for the death of hundreds of civilians in Israel.
But it is not only the existence of the numerous
PA-backed terrorist factions that should cause greatest concern
to Europe amidst its own attempts to foster a just and lasting
Middle East peace, but the systematic indoctrination of a whole
new generation of Palestinian children.
Despite countless studies and press reports,
spanning right back to the inception of the Oslo accords, school
textbooks issued by the PA Ministry of Education continue to incite
against Jews, glorify shahids (suicide terrorists) and
avoid any acknowledgement of the very existence of Israel. [36]
The extent to which the EU is directly responsible
for funding these books is still a matter of debate. But what
is without doubt is the gravity of the PA's violation of its most
basic undertakings to Europe and the EU's adamant refusal, as
the largest single donor bloc, to hold the PA to account despite
having the matter brought to the attention of the Commission time
and time again.
C. Perpetuating Refugees
Almost 50% of the 500 million annual European
aid to the Palestinians is accounted for in direct, voluntary
contributions to UNWRA, the United Nation's dedicated relief arm
for Palestinian refugees. Although the importance of ensuring
these people are not left destitute is without question, the way
UNWRA operates throughout the Middle East puts the Arab population
of 1948 Palestine in a unique category that flouts the universal
norms of global refugee work, maintains their descendants in unacceptable
poverty and contravenes the foundational principles of both the
UN and EU.
Founded in the wake of UN efforts to address
the massive refugee crises in the years immediately following
the end of World War II, UNWRA was established along the lines
of the older, and highly successful sister agency UNRRA: the United
Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, which operated
between 1943 and 1948. [37]
UNRRA's mandate was to resolve the (largely
Jewish) refugee problem created by the war. In so doing it set
vital precedents for the future work of United Nations High Commission
for Refugees (UNHCR), established two years after UNRRA's dissolution
in 1948.
But while UN agencies successfully finished
their post-war refugee work in most countries within the early
1950s, they have continued to oversee an ever-expanding operation
among Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and in camps across
the Middle East until now. The reason for this lies in the UN's
unique definition on who constitutes a Palestinian refugee:
"Under UNRRA's operational definition,
Palestine refugees are persons whose normal place of residence
was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948, who lost both their
homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli
conflict. UNRWA's services are available to all those living in
its area of operations who meet this definition, who are registered
with the Agency and who need assistance. UNRWA's definition of
a refugee also covers the descendants ofpersons who became refugees
in 1948. The number of registered Palestine refugees has subsequently
grown from 914,000 in 1950 to more than four million in 2002,
and continues to rise due to natural population growth. [38]
While it appears strange to define a refugee
as a person that resided in Palestine in such a narrow window
of time as the two short years between June 1946 and May 1948,
[39]the
crux of this definition is that it "also covers the descendants
ofpersons who became refugees in 1948." This is not only
in disharmony with the "UN Convention relating to the Status
of Refugees"[40]
which allows no room for a refugee status to be conferred on the
descendants of the person originally displaced, it also explicitly
foresees and discourages the integration of refugees in their
countries of refuge.
According to #34 of the "UN Convention
relating to the Status of Refugees" host countries are called
upon to "facilitate the assimilation and naturalization of
refugees" and to "make every effort to expedite naturalization
proceedings." This is not only ignored by UNRWA but has been
repeatedly and explicitly discouraged by the UN itself. [41]
In addition, the work of UNRWA, (the "large
majority" of whose 25,000 staff are also "refugees")[42]
has, from time to time, come under suspicion of indirectly supporting
armed Palestinian "resistance" against the State of
Israel, [43]financial
mismanagement, corruption and graft. [44]
The totality of the agency's activity, therefore,
could be summarised as an aid program that supports a self-proliferating
refugee problem in the region. It does little to dissolve one
of the greatest long-term human disasters in the Middle East but
instead helps artificially to sustain and prolong what has become
one of the major obstacles for lasting peace.
The unique Palestinian "right of return"
in addition begs the question why a further half a million Jewish
refugees, (who together with their descendants constitute some
two million people), cannot claim similar charges on the bottomless
purse of international beneficence following their expulsion from
their native Arab lands shortly after the State of Israel came
into being.
IV. Light on the horizon
Despite the scale and severity of the issues
outlined above and their detrimental impact on the lives of ordinary
Palestinians and the prospects of future peace, the European
Coalition for Israel recognises that much is being done to
address them.
The Democracy caucus in the European Parliament
and the efforts towards establishing increased transparency with
regard to the Commission's dealings with the outside world are
commendable steps. The infamous cash payments to the PA and particularly
the notorious "Presidential budget" of Chairman Arafat
have been abolished.
However more needs to be done in order to ensure
that the funds from Europe serve the interests and purpose of
the European Union and its member states.
To this end the recent draft EC recommendations
to member states on `non-profit' accountability[45]
are particularly noteworthy. In particular, we would endorse the
suggested development of a "European Label" that requires
a "Code of Conduct" based on the understanding of a
basic set of human rights values.
As the European Coalition for Israel,
however, we also would call upon the EU to address its own suggested
steps with more determination. We strongly believe that European
NGO funding directed to non-EU states should be firmly attached
to clearly defined benchmarks with a view to increasing freedom,
human rights and democracy as universally understood in the founding
treaties of the Union.
For that reason we propose the following model
of "Moral Leadership Funding" which could serve as a
distinctive "European Label" for funds disbursed not
only to the PA but to all other external recipients of EU aid.
V. Moral Leadership Funding
The Union shall seek to develop relations
and build partnerships with third countries,and international,
regional or global organisations, which share these values [of
democracy, the rule of law, the universality and indivisibility
of human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for human dignity,
equality and solidarity, and for international law in accordance
with the principles of the United Nations Charter]Article III-193
of the EU Draft Constitution. [46]
The European Coalition for Israel believes
that the EU and its members have a unique global leadership role,
which should be asserted in a more positive way in the Middle
East.
Over the course of the last century, Europe,
together with the United States of America, has set the international
standard of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. These
values today are adopted and accepted by more and more nations
worldwide, a fact attested to by the voting behaviour in the UN
General Assembly where many nations now consistently follow the
European lead.We therefore believe that the EU should utilise
its potential to the fullest extent in using its resources and
funds to foster and spread the very values that define Europe
and the free world.
WINDOW OF
OPPORTUNITY
The political landscape in the Middle East is
currently undergoing an unprecedented shake up which could usher
in new hope and perspectives to the citizens of the region. The
masses that filled the streets of Beirut precipitating an end
to Syrian military rule, unprecedented elections in Saudi Arabia,
Egypt and in the Palestinian Territories give rise to a new hope
for the whole region. And if the World Community will be determined
to confront the Islamic terror militias in Iraq, the region might
soon have a second functioning democracy alongside that of Israel.
We believe that Europe can have a far greater
influence in this process if it will assume a more responsible
leadership position within the Middle East. Talk of applying human
rights benchmarks across the region is not new to the EU, but
the policy has never been enforced. Instead funds have been made
available for well-meaning purposes to a large number of totalitarian
systems. These regimes in turn, have consistently failed to live
up to their commitments and the funding has left a legacy of failure
and fraud.
The greatest example of this is the funding
of the Palestinian Authority and its affiliated institutions under
the leadership of Yasser Arafat. As outlined above, since the
1993 Oslo Accords Arafat received billions of dollars in global
aid and proceeded to use it to foster a culture of terrorism and
hatred among his people.
But there are other examples stemming from what,
at times, appears to be the unreflected optimism of the Barcelona
Process. The recent EU free trade agreement with the failing regime
of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad is a case in point. Assad's Syria
is a totalitarian state that openly supports and hosts the region's
most implacable terrorist organisations.
We therefore urge the European Union to adjust
its funding philosophy towards the Middle East and to apply a
"European Label" to aid given to countries and NGOs
outside the Union. We propose the following model of "Moral
Leadership Funding" to be the "label" earmarking
all such EU funds.
FUNDING PRINCIPLES
Moral Leadership Funding is founded on four
principles: accountability, human rights, zero-tolerance towards
terrorism all within the framework of a long-term perspective.
These are more fully outlined below.
A. Accountability
All funds given by the EU to Middle East states
or NGOs should be strictly audited in order to avoid misuse and
corruption. Cash payments similar to those made in the past to
the PA should never be repeated in any form.
The European Coalition for Israel recognizes
that the, so far unpublished, findings of the OLAF investigation
into European funding of the Palestinian Authority encouraged
a more controlled giving regime. We suggest that audits need to
follow the following guidelines.
Independent: An independent
auditing mechanism needs to be implemented at every level of the
transfer of EU funds to all external recipients. In particularly
we strongly suggest that the PA and all affiliated Palestinian
organisations in direct and indirect receipt of European aid should
be audited on an annual basis by an independent, internationally
recognised and preferably European-based accounting firm.
Budgeted: We suggest
that on average at least one percent of the given funds both from
the Union and the member States should be set aside to allow an
independent auditing process.
Networked: It is of no
use if only European funds are being audited. Europe should take
a lead and ask for audit reports of money given to the PA from
all other donor countries. These can then be compared to the EU
funding profiles.
Fair: We urge the EU
to use its funding leverage to enforce the elimination of the
many goods and commodity monopolies controlled by individual officials
within the PA.
Transparent: Since all
European funds originate with the taxpayers of member states it
is incumbent on the European Commission to ensure that they are
given in a responsible and transparent manner.
B. Human Rights
All funds, in particular long-term assistance,
should be tied to a strict set of benchmarks on human rights.
The Middle East and the Southern Mediterranean Area, which enjoys
a privileged partnership with the European Union through the Barcelona
Process, host some of the most undemocratic and inhuman regimes
in the world today. A recent Newsweek report revealed that,
in the entire region, only Israel received a respectable ranking
for its adherence to the principles of democracy and human rights.
[47]
We believe that Europe has a moral obligation
to tighten its policies towards these countries in order to effect
positive change for the ordinary citizens of Middle East. This
includes asserting fiscal pressure tied to the advancement of
democratic freedom, the rule of law, freedom of press, women's
rights, freedom of religion and education, all of which are currently
ignored or paid lip service only.
We do recognize that some of these nations are
not yet ready to fully adopt democracy. As has happened in Algeria
in the 1990s and could yet happen in the Palestinian areas and
other nations across the region, free elections today might bring
radical religious elements to power that would further restrict
basic freedoms and undermine human rights.
However, in order to establish a framework for
a stable society a set of basic values needs to be established
consistent with the universal norms of the UN Charter. At the
forefront of our concern across the Arab world today is the freedom
of press, women's rights, freedom of religion and the widespread
incitement to hatred against the Jewish people and the State of
Israel.
We believe that if children from an early age
are educated in a culture of peace and tolerance that these societies
can in the future be true partners in peace with Israel and can
also be considered true partners of the European Union.
However if those nations fail to address an
ingrained culture of religiously-sanctioned sectarian and racially
motivated hate, the EU should apply strict measures to enforce
the required change in each society. The flow of funds should
be interrupted and, in the face of persistent violations, the
status of "Partnership" with the EU should be reconsidered.
Partnership with Europe should be only given
to countries which share the same basic values or which show determination
to work towards them.
C. Zero Tolerance of Terror
Where necessary to achieve the objectives
[. . . .], as regards prevention of and fight against organised
crime, terrorism and trafficking in human beings European laws
may define a framework for measures with regard to capital movements
and payments, such as the freezing of funds, financial assets
or economic gains belonging to, or owned or held by, natural or
legal persons, groups or non-state entities.
Article III-49 Draft EU Constitution.
[48]
European funds should neither directly nor indirectly
be used to aid terrorist sponsoring organisations or states, as
it is clearly stated in the EU draft constitution and its framework
document on combating terror. [49]
We therefore call upon the Foreign Affairs Committee
to encourage the EU to:
Develop consistent guidelines
for the EU and its member states that reflect a zero tolerance
approach to terrorism.
Review and enlarge international
cooperation to effectively block the international transfer of
funds for terrorist supporting organisations and states.
Ban and freeze assets
of any Palestinian group supporting terrorism.
Impose conditions on
bilateral relations with Syria, Iran and the PA. These countries
need to cease their funding and support for Hizb'Allah, Hamas
and other armed organisations.
Ensure that no part of
EU taxpayers' money can be used to honour and glorify the murder
of civilians by terrorists.
In our view, any continuing funding of the Middle
East region should reflect the EU position that "terrorism
constitutes one of the most serious threats to democracy, to the
free exercise of human rights and to economic and social development,"
and that it "can never be justified whatever the target."
[50]
D. Long-Term View
All EU funding in the Middle East should have
long-term perspective and should not only address the immediate
needs of the target population. We urge the European Union to
establish long-term objectives for the following areas.
Education Increased funds
should be invested in youth education with a view to fostering
peace and democracy throughout the Middle East. The EU should
assist in developing new curricula for all areas of education
in order to promote the prospects of a peaceful solution to the
conflict while bolstering respect and tolerance among neighbours.
Passages which encourage intolerance against Israel, Christians
or the western world should be removed.
Economic Development Long
term funds which are used to address social needs (like food programs)
should be decreased and redirected into a economic infrastructure
which will attract further investments and induce economic growth.
Funds should be used to encourage a free market economy. If necessary
this needs to be enforced by dismantling the monopolies over goods
and commodities controlled by PA officials. [51]
Refugee Integration Funds
should not be used to maintain the refugee problem (as UNRWA has
done for more then 50 years) but should be rather used to integrate
refugees in their countries of residence as the UN actually suggests
for all other displaced peoples. The UNWRA definition on who constitutes
a refugee should also be revisited and revised.
Since UNRWA's policy appears to be to prolong
the suffering of Palestinian Refugees rather than alleviate it,
the ECI calls upon the EU to establish in cooperation with UN,
a new refugee organisation which has the aim of absorbing the
refugees in their respective country of residence. In particular
the refugee camps in Gaza need to be dismantled immediately and
a strategic integration programme should be developed which could
serve as a model for other nations and areas.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion we believe that the European Union
can play a more positive and constructive role in the Middle East
than it has done in the past.
Since the EU is the largest single donor to
the region we believe that European money should be used more
as a lever to bring peace, freedom and eventually democracy to
this troubled part of the world. It is unacceptable that very
little is heard and read of European criticism towards states
which foster terrorism and show grave disregard of basic levels
of human rights while Israel, as the only democracy in the region,
appears constantly to be in the crosshair of criticism.
As soon as the rest of the Middle East understands
that Europe will no longer tolerate a culture of terrorism and
incitement it will either produce political change or raise the
question whether the offered Partnership with states like Syria
and the PA is indeed valuable to EU interests.
This is particularly important since these nations
are our immediate neighbours. If we cannot be certain that the
countries of the Middle East share and uphold our basic values,
a close partnership could represent a serious threat to our own
internal security and can eventually bring terrorism to our own
homes.
However, we believe that were European funds
to be linked to firm benchmarks of human rights while being invested
in proactive education for peace, the end result could be the
emergence of a stable and educated middle class, not only in the
Palestinian areas, but throughout the region.
In doing this the EU has the opportunity to
establish a solid foundation upon which to build a new democratic
order in the Middle East, which in turn will be of benefit to
the wider world.
7 "Draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for
Europe", as submitted by The European Convention to the President
of the European Council in Rome, 18 July 2003. Back
8
EC press notice IP/05/1159: "European Commission to support
the Palestinians with 280 million in 2005", 19 September
2005. Back
9
EC press notice IP/05/1224: "European Commission proposes
comprehensive EU strategy for support to Palestinians", 5
October 2005; See also: "EU proposes doubling annual aid
to PA to 500 million" AP/Ha'aretz, 5 October
2005 (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/632184.html). Back
10
World Bank News Release 2004/451/MNA: "World Bank Paper
Urges Major Easing of Israeli Closure Measures and Stepped-up
Palestinian Reform Efforts", 24 June 2004. Both points were
re-iterated by Nigel Roberts in separate interviews with Scotland
on Sunday, 29 February 2004 and The Middle East Times,
27 April 2005. Back
11
Figures provided by UNWRA in November 2004 and the United Nations
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in January
2004 and cited by Christian Aid: "Christian Aid in Israel
and the Occupied Palestinian Territories", July 2005: http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/world/where/meeca/isrpalp.htm Back
12
"Arafat `ruining his people' says prote«ge«,"
The Guardian, 2 August 2004. Back
13
"Expert says Palestinians don't need financial aid",
San Francisco Chronicle, 4 September 2005. Back
14
OLAF, EU anti-Fraud Division, Press Release, March 2005. Back
15
Figures originally taken from website of the European Commission
Technical Assistance Office for the West Bank and Gaza Strip,
http:/www.delwbg.cec.eu.int, and quoted by the Funding for
Peace Coalition in their study "Managing European Taxpayers
Money", August 2004; p 7. All links to specific annual EU
aid totals to the Palestinians prior to 2003 have since been removed
from this site. Back
16
EC Background Briefing, "EU Relations with West Bank and
Gaza Strip", Section 4: "EU financial assistance to
the Palestinians; http://europa.eu.int/comm/external relations/gaza/intro/ Back
17
EC press notice IP/05/1224. Back
18
EC Background Briefing "EU Relations with West Bank and
Gaza Strip" op cif. Back
19
"Managing European Taxpayers' Money,' Appendix A, p. 35.
The global estimate for aid received by the Palestinians via the
PA and other agencies from 1993-2004 is over US $10 billion, which
approximates to some 8.9 billion using the 2003 annual average
dollar-euro exchange rate of 0.89. 4.5 billion of this has
been identified by the EC as coming from the EU and Member States,
illustrating the scale of the European aid program to the PA when
contrasted with the efforts of the rest of the international community
combined. For a full breakdown of non-European aid to the Palestinians
during this period, see Appendix. Back
20
Cf. Article III-193 of Draft EU Constitution, cited above. Back
21
Glenn Yago and James Prince, "The Economic Road Map: Beyond
the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict", Milken Institute, July
2005. Back
22
"Expert says Palestinians don't need financial aid",
San Francisco Chronicle, 4 September 2005. Back
23
"16 PA ministers offer to resign", The Jerusalem
Post, 3 August 1997. Back
24
"Hackers uncover secret billions of Arafat's PLO",
The Daily Telegraph, 5 December 1999. Back
25
"Economic Performance and Reform Under Conflict Conditions",
International Monetary Fund Report on West Bank and Gaza, 15 September
2003. Back
26
"Arafat's Billions", 60 Minutes-CBS News, 9
November 2003. Transcript available at: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/07/60minutes/main582487.shtml.
Fayad went on to release a scathing PA Finance Ministry report
on 17 November detailing how Arafat was continuing to control
as much as 10% of the total PA Budget in private bank accounts,
siphoning off the money at a rate of NIS 1 million (200,000)
a day. Back
27
The Paris public prosecutor confirmed to Reuters on 10 February
2004 that French authorities had opened an inquiry into money
transfers totalling $11.5 million into bank accounts held by Suha
Arafat in France. Back
28
Cited in "Managing European Taxpayers' Money" Appendix
A, p 37. Back
29
PLO financier Jaweed aI-Ghussein estimated that Arafat's financial
empire was worth between $3 billion and $5 billion when he quit
in 1996. Cf. "Arafat's Millions Could Slip Away," AP/ABC
News, 9 November 2004. Back
30
"PA Speaker: Abbas can't beat corruption", Yediot
Ahronot, 4 July 2005. (http://www.vnetnews.com/articles/0.7340,L-3069420,00.html) Back
31
"Panel: PA has done nothing to impose order", Ha'aretz,
9 October 2005. Back
32
"EC Proposal for a Council Framework Decision on Combating
Terrorism," Brussels, 19 September 2001. Back
33
"Palestinian Authority Funds Go to Militants", BBC
News, 7 November 2003: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3243071.stm Back
34
"Fatah committed to Aksa Martyrs", The Jerusalem
Post, 21 June 2001. Back
35
According to PA statistics on fatalities in the first nine months
of 2005, the terrorist factions were responsible for more Palestinian
deaths than the IDF, and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades more than
Hamas. "Fatah gangs run rampant in Gaza," The Jerusalem
Post, 13 October 2005. Back
36
"Jews, Israel and Peace in the Palestinian Authority Textbooks,"
Centre for Monitoring the Impact of Peace, June 2005: http://www.edume.org/ Back
37
Harold Fruchtbaum, "Assisting the victims of War,"
UN Chronicle, 1 December 1994. Back
38
"Who is a Palestinian Refugee,' UNRWA operational definition:
http://www.un.org/unrwa/refugees/whois.html Back
39
According to Howard Sachar in the second edition of his seminal
study A History of Israel (New York, 1996) large parts
of the residents of Palestine at that time were "guest workers"
from neighbouring countries finding employment through the British
Administration or in Jewish Settlements. Back
40
"Convention relating to the Status of Refugees", adopted
on 28 July 1951 by the United Nations Conference of Plenipotentiaries
on the Status of Refugees and Stateless Persons convened under
General Assembly resolution 429 (V) of 14 December 1950. Back
41
Cf. United Nations Resolution 31/15, 23 November 1976 and UN
Resolution 34/52, 23 November 1979 which calls on Israel "to
desist from removal and resettlement of Palestinian refugees in
the Gaza Strip and from destruction of their shelters". Back
42
"UNWRA: employment: organisation, structure and staffing":
http://www.un.om/unrwa/emplovment/organization.html Back
43
Cf. "Mofaz: Palestinians Smuggled Body Parts in UN Ambulances,"
Yediot Ahronot (Hebrew), 14 May 2004: http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-2916529,00.html;
UNWRA Press Notice HQ/G/09/2004: "UNRWA Calls on All Parties
to Respect the Neutrality of its Ambulances," 13 May 2004. Back
44
"Corruption cover-up in UNWRA?" Al-Ahram Weekly,
1-7 April 1999: http://weekly.ahram.ora.ea/1999/423/re6.htm Back
45
EC Draft Discussion Document: "Draft Recommendations to
Member States Regarding a Code of Conduct for Non-Profit Organisations
to Promote Transparency And Accountability Best Practices,"
22 July 2005. Back
46
"Draft Treaty," European Convention, July 2003; "Combating
Terrorism," EC Framework Document, Brussels, 19 September
2001. Back
47
Graphic illustrating conclusions of 2004 "Freedom in the
World," survey issued by Freedom House reprinted alongside
"What Bush Got Right", Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek,
14 March 2005. Back
48
"Draft Treaty," European Convention, July 2003. Back
49
"Combating Terrorism," EC Framework Document, Brussels,
19 September 2001. Back
50
Ibid. Back
51
For a more detailed analysis see Yago and Prince, "The Economic
Road Map", July 2005. Back
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