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Let Abbas Bail Out the Palestinian Authority

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Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and PA "Prime Minister" Salam Fayyad signing an economic agreement in Jerusalem, July 21, 2012.
Photo Credit: Moshe Milner/GPO/FLASH90

As the Jewish Press reported last week, Israel has advanced the Palestinian Authority NIS 250 million (approximately $62.5 million) to deal with their budget crisis which has led to protests against Western darling Salam Fayyad (the so-called Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority).

This despite the fact that the the Palestinian Authority owes the Israel Electric Company some NIS 700 million.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is also reeling from the protests, is allegedly worth $100 million.  That figure according to a former Arafat aide, Muhammed Rachid. Other sources also implicate Abbas as well as his sons in various corruption schemes which have and are making them rich.

Here’s one example from a report from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies given to Congress:

Yasser, the elder son, owns Falcon Tobacco, which reportedly enjoys a monopoly on several tobacco products in the Palestinian territories. According to the Toronto Star, Yasser also chairs Falcon Holding Group, a Palestinian corporate conglomerate that owns Falcon Electrical Mechanical Contracting Company (also called Falcon Electro Mechanical Contracting Company, or FEMC), an engineering interest that was established in 2000 and boasts offices in Gaza, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and the West Bank. This business success has come with a helping hand from Washington. According to a Reuters report, in 2005, Yasser Abbas’ company received $1.89 million from USAID to build a sewage system in the West Bank town of Hebron.

So why not let Abbas save his own skin, instead of having Israel repeatedly bail the Palestinian Authority out?

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About the Author: Daniel Tauber is a frequent contributor to various prominent publications, including the Jewish Press, Arutz Sheva, Americanthinker.com, the Jerusalem Post and Ha’aretz. Daniel is also an attorney admitted to practice law in Israel and New York and received his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law. You can follow him on facebook and twitter.

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