EU anti-fraud unit links PA to terror
By HERB KEINON
The European Union's anti-fraud unit (OLAF) believes documents Israel provided showing Palestinian Authority financial support for terror are authentic, Israeli diplomatic officials said Thursday.
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The German daily Die Welt reported last week that suspicion is growing that money from PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's office was transferred to terror organizations, meaning that EU funds were used to help finance terror activities for the first two years of the current violence.
The EU budgeted some 10 million euros a month to the PA from the Fall of 2000, when the current violence erupted, to the Fall of 2002, when questions about usage of the funds forced the European Commission to stop payments.
The documents Israel provided were taken from Arafat's office during Operation Defensive Shield in March 2002 and transferred to the EU by the Defense Ministry.
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OLAF representatives reportedly visited Israel recently and are in the midst of writing a report on the matter that will be submitted to the European Commission, and will also be presented to the European Parliament.
Israeli diplomatic officials discounted the possibility that this report will be buried, like a recent EU-commission report from a think tank on a rise in anti-Semitism, because the OLAF report is akin to a State Comptrollers report.
According to the Die Welt report, the documents indicate a link between Arafat and the Al Aksa Brigades which is tied to his Fatah movement.
OLAF responded to the report by issuing a statement saying it has "not finalized its investigation. Therefore, any conclusions attributed to OLAF are premature and are not confirmed by evidence."
The statement said that while the investigation is continuing "OLAF expects all the institutions with whom it holds briefings in camera to refrain from comments or speculation on the OLAF inquiry."
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, head of Shurat Hadin – Israel Law Center, has filed a NIS 100 million suit in Tel Aviv District Court against the EU on behalf of the Blumberg family which was decimated by a terror attack in August 2001.
Palestinian policemen - on the PA payroll - opened fire on the Blumberg car near their home in Karnei Shomron, murdering Tehiya Blumberg, a mother of five who was five months pregnant, and leaving her husband Stephen and daughter Tziporah seriously injured.
The lawsuit alleges that the EU recklessly provided the PA with massive sums of financial aid, while knowing that the money was being diverted from its intended civilian purposes to Palestinian terrorist groups.
The court papers assert that the EU was repeatedly warned by Israel that its aid was financing Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
The plaintiffs allege that the EU failed to undertake any steps to monitor or scrutinize how the PA was utilizing the donated money. Darshan-Leitner on Thursday called for the OLAF report to be released, and said its findings - as reported in Die Welt - support the plaintiff's claims.
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