Palestinians May Have Lost Billions

"The Palestinian attorney general said he had uncovered the theft or misuse of $700m (£400m) of public funds, and suspects much more has gone missing, in an inquiry into widespread official corruption. Ahmed al-Meghami said billions of dollars may have been misappropriated in total and that his office has ordered 25 arrests to date and issued 10 international warrants relating to fraud within the Palestinian Authority (PA)."

If the allegation is only half-true at least 2 things clearly emerge. First, how corrupt Arafat and his henchmen were. But then perhaps that is no surprise given that Arafat was at one time on a list of the 500 richest men in the world and there were the persistent reports of Arafat having funds "outside" Palestine. Secondly, it is no wonder that Hamas did so well in the recent elections if the general populace even had only a whiff of money not having been used for them in providing proper health-facilities, schools, roads, etc.

Read the full article in The Guardian of the possible missing billions here.

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Mahler's Prodigal Son

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