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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bilow who wrote (115500)	9/22/2003 8:51:00 PM
From: lorne	Respond to of 281500

Arafat diverts $1.35bn 22sep03 theadvertiser.news.com.au DUBAI: An audit of the Palestinian Authority has revealed President Yasser Arafat diverted $1.35 billion in public funds to a bank account he controlled, with most of the money later invested in Palestinian assets at home and abroad. International Monetary Fund official Karim Nashashibi credited openness and transparency in the Palestinian Authority's accounting under Finance Minister Salam Fayad for disclosing the transfers of money between 1995 and 2000. But Mr Nashashibi did not rule out the possibility of the remaining funds being misused. He said there would be an audit. Mr Nashashibi said the money was diverted from the budget to a bank account controlled by Mr Arafat. "We estimated that amount to be around US$900 million over a period of five years," the IMF official said.

To: Bilow who wrote (115500)	9/22/2003 9:13:52 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Given the disparity in power, the Palestinian beliefs looks a little more delusionary than the Israeli ones, wouldn't you say? Also, the curious thing about the deal being refused by the Arabs is that it's not the actual Arabs in Israel who are adamantly refusing to stay a minority in Israel; it's the Arabs (both Palestinian and other) outside of the Green Line who are adamantly refusing to sign a deal that leaves Israel standing. So the Palestinians insist that Israel stop existing, while the Israelis do not insist that Palestine stop existing - a basic assymetry in goals. For the Israelis to look to "cut a deal" that would leave them in a worse position than the Copts in Egypt, they would have to be desperate indeed.