Bassam Eid is the founder and director of the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG) based in east Jerusalem. It’s a thankless job and he’s between a rock and a hard place—if he criticizes the PA, he gets accused of “collaboration” with Israel… if he criticizes Hamas, he gets accused of “collaboration” with the PA… his reports on human rights violations get pigeonholed or buried unless they report only Israeli violations… few of his articles reach any international media as anything but blogs… mainstream media hardly even knows he exists… but he’s a brave, honest and honorable man trying to do an almost impossible job. I wish there were more Palestinians like him and I wish him success.

The cost of corruption

By Bassem Eid

The Palestinian Authority, formed in 1994 in collaboration between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the government of Israel as a result of the Oslo Accords, controlled the entire area of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip until June 2007. Then Hamas forces took over the Strip, seizing the military facilities controlled by Fatah under Mahmoud Abbas’s management, and proceeded to execute officers in the security forces. In response, Abbas dissolved the Palestinian Legislative Council and declared a state of emergency.

Despite this body blow, the corruption of the PA remains as strong as ever, with more new layers constantly revealing themselves to the population at large.

A close friend who recently moved from Gaza City to Ramallah with his wife and two young children told me that the cost of each passport for a Gazan citizen is almost NIS 1,200, as opposed to NIS 235 prior to the Hamas takeover - just one of the consequences of the political disputes between the governments of Hamas in Gaza and Fatah in Ramallah.

After the takeover, several administrative offices had been formed in Gaza whose duties included the distribution of passports to civilians. I can’t fathom how these offices transfer the passport requests from Gaza to Ramallah. I do not rule out the possibility that they are in fact smuggled through the tunnels and sent via Egyptian mail to Ramallah.

Today there is a serious passport shortage in the Gaza Strip. The PA, to help remedy that problem, is supposed to pass out about 5,000 new passports every month to citizens in the Gaza Strip. Hamas uses passports by selectively distributing them to the people within its government instead of making them available to anyone applying for them. The lack of passports in Gaza has brought a major increase in demand and even 10,000 new passports issued a month would not be enough to relieve the deficit.

The PA doesn’t want to provide the necessary number of passports to the Gaza Strip, since it sees the dearth of passports as a useful tool with which to pressure the Hamas government into returning what it acquired in the takeover.

Hamas, however, is far more worried about regional politics than in the life of the Gaza Strip population.

I WOULD like to add another anecdote to this story: My brother, Hatem Abdulqader, was appointed 40 days ago to be the Minister of Jerusalem Affairs in the Salaam Fayad government. However, his new employer wasn’t able to provide him with an office. No one in the government was able to tell my brother to his face that every minister needs a chair, a table and coffee utensils to serve the people who come to his office to congratulate him. When I heard about this, I lent my brother NIS 10,000 to find an office.

Eventually, he had to build one for himself. He had approached the Ministry of Finance many times requesting an office, a chair and a desk, but was told time again that the PA’s cash register was empty.

This episode enraged me. Why is it necessity to appoint so many ministers to form a government? Why is the PA in need of $100 million each month for salaries? Where does all this money go? What do all these ministers do for their people?

In the television broadcast showing my brother being sworn in as minister, he raised his hand and swore by the Koran to be loyal to his people and country. If I were him, I would refuse to take this vow in front of Abbas or Fayad. I would be willing to take the oath only when the people standing in front of me are responsible enough to uphold this vow themselves.

The Fayad government actually wanted to use my brother to commit perjury, to swear in front of the entire Palestinian nation in the name of a useless government.

It would seem that the talkbackers on the Jerusalem Post don’t seem to support the Palestinians very much… and this is a paper with a history of allowing any post, even those with the most hate-filled anti-Israeli “opinions”. Here’s a selection of the talkbacks:

In an era of sad news from every direction.
This article is perhaps the gloomiest. Pity for the Palestinians in both Judea and Samaria and in Gaza, that they have fallen into the hands of bandits and swindlers. Both of our peoples suffer from them. [Woman from Israel]

Brave assertions in a dangerous neighborhood
I wish Mr. Eid luck and success, and wish it were he with whom Israel were negotiating an end to the emnity between our peoples. [Man, no location mentioned]

please anyone, anyone
just send this little article to the eu and ms. clinton who showered the pa government last year with billions of dollars and this year with one more billion. indeed Where does the money go? Not to the Palestinians, that is for sure.It goes the way Arafat’s money goes...either terror or building villas for the big terrorist kahunas. Idiocy from EU and USA. Their $$ finances terrorism and embezzlement Arab style.. [Woman from Lebanon]

Corruption everywhere
There is no doubt whatsoever that the Palestinian Authority is rife with corruption. I have no facts, but I would suspect Hamas is similarly compromised. Let us also note, however, that a staggeringly high percentage of Israeli ministers have also been indicted and/or convicted for various corrupt or even criminal acts. The Palestinians must clean up their act if they intend to have a legitimate nation some day. Likewise, Israel has some house cleaning to do, itself. [Man from USA]

The cost of corruption
I have been asking this all along, where do the hundreds of millions and billions donated to the Palestinians go? [Man from Canada]

The cost of corruption is not what this article says, the real cost is war
...there is no other reason to the conflict than the need to steal people’s money [Arabic Man’s name, no location given]

Angry Arab warnings
How many times have I warned against supporting corrupt Arab dictatorships? when will the Americans and Europeans listen? Hello? Anyone home? Thank God I moved to the US from Lebanon about 20 years ago. [As’ad (The Angry Arab) –USA]

During cast Lead
The Red Cross complained of shipments being highjacked by Hamas. That Hamas was selling supplies that were to be given to civilians in need. I guess you don’t think that is corruption! Even today they are bilking political prisoners out of food Hamas is duty bound to supply. [Man from Canada]

I like Fatah but curopt.
I like that Fatah personally gives us more rights than other Arab countries. They rank as the most democratic Arab government, but also the most curopt. Everyone who works for Fatah lives in a huge mansion with lawns and pools. Gated communities surrounded by security, while we make about $2 US dollar a day. I dont like the Hamas because they want Sharia law and I am a Christian (but many Christians here support Hamas) but at least they give to the people more. Fatah is crap. They spend money like millionaires. But when we elect Marwan Barghouti next year things will change. [Man, West Bank]

I think the corruption issue is one reason why Hamas gained so many votes
Hamas is not corrupt? Even the United Nations has documented relief supplies being diverted away from the civillian population and resold on the black market by Hamas. Diesel fuel has meant for hospital and clinic generators have been diverted for use by Hamas government authorities. Israel might not be great, but thinking that Hamas is genuinely concerned about the populatoin in Gaza is more than absurd. The only people Hamas concerns itself with are those in Damascus and Tehran. [Man from USA]

The Palestinians had more choices
The Palestinians did not have to choose either Fatah or Hamas. I believe there was another party, headed by Fayad, called The Third Way. If the Palestinians wanted to protest againt Fatah AND show that they were against terrorism and for peace, they could have chosen that party. The Third Way got a miniscule number of votes. [Man from USA]

Show Me The Money!
No not Jerry McGuire; but the billions of aid money throughout the years. Arafat’s fat ass, so-called wife in Paris, Abbas’ multi-millionaire son, all new Volvos for the parliament members, etc. They use their population as pawns and walking peasant billboards. If only the money was rightfully used for infrastructure, education not indoctrination, and terrorism, they could build a world-class peaceful civil society. I think this is what the majority of Palestinians want. Better yet, let them claim Jordan as their rightful country, it was supposed to be theirs in the first place. [Man from the “Republic of Texas”]

Bassam Eid’s articles appear regularly in the Jerusalem Post, one of the few papers willing to print them. It’s a sad day when you have to rely on the “enemy” to be heard...