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Arab League seeks to secure Paleo funding
 CAIRO, Egypt - The head of the Arab League said Sunday that members would meet this week to hammer out a plan for sending millions of dollars a month to the Palestinian Authority, despite U.S. attempts to stop the flow of money to the new Hamas-led government. | Heh. Every euro that goes down the Paleo rat hole is one less Danish flag available to burn in Multan and Jakarta. |
Secretary-General Amr Moussa said foreign ministers from several Arab countries were to meet Monday in Algiers to examine a plan to send about $50 million a month to the Palestinian Authority. A final decision is not expected until Arab leaders meet in a summit next month in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.| It's ever so annoying when the jizya dries up. Might even have to feed some stupid widows and orphans with Junior Jihadi's ammo allowance... |
The money is part of Palestinian funding the Arab League approved last year before Hamas' election victory in January. Saudi Arabia and Qatar have already contributed to the financially strapped Palestinian Authority and more money is on its way, Moussa said. The $50 million monthly stipend, however, only represents what the Arab League initially pledged give the Palestinians during a summit nearly four years ago, and some Palestinians voiced skepticism that their fellow Arabs would come through. "Since the Arab summit in Beirut in 2002, the Arab governments decided to give the Palestinians $600 million a year. That never materialized. The Arabs made promises, but never delivered," said Samir Ghattas, head of the Palestinian Al-Kuds Research Center. "It the Arabs did not pay Arafat, why should they now pay Hamas?" Ghattas asked. Noting that Hamas had its roots in the radical Muslim Brotherhood, Ghattas asked: "How can the Arabs give money to a Muslim Brotherhood which threatened them in each and every country. Do they have an interest in encouraging a Muslim Brotherhood movement to take over? The answer is no."
A senior Palestinian official, who refused to be identified because he did not wish to embarrass fellow Arabs, agreed with Ghattas' figures. "The maximum that Arab countries have paid is $100 million of the $600 million they agreed to give," he told The Associated Press. He noted what he felt was the irony of a situation in which the United States formerly pushed the Arabs to live up to their funding pledges, while now encouraging them not to send money to a Hamas-led government.| It's not irony, it's justice. |
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice cautioned Iran and other Middle East powers against giving money to a Hamas-led government. She also expressed doubt that the militant Islamic group could raise badly needed international financing unless it changes its policies. Mohammad Sobeih, Moussa's deputy, said the Arab League expects the Arab governments to brush aside the U.S warnings. "This is a summit resolution and no one is expected to ignore it," he said referring to Arab funding of the Palestinian Authority.
Posted by: Seafarious 2006-02-20 |
