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Arafat foils attempt to recruit financial aid from Jordan
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has reacted with fury to an attempt by Palestinian organizations to receive financial aid from Jordan. Speaking exclusively with The Jerusalem Post, a senior Palestinian official said the heads of 22 West Bank unions and organizations sent a petition to Jordan's King Abdallah last month, asking for financial assistance. A copy of the letter reached Arafat, who ordered an immediate investigation into its dispatch. Palestinians said Arafat fears that by seeking financial aid from Abdallah, the organizations are setting the stage for restoring Jordan's historic ties with the West Bank. He who controls the purse strings, etc. Abdullah's father, the late King Hussein, severed Jordan's legal and administrative ties with the West Bank shortly after the beginning of the first Intifada. The appeal to Abdallah caused uproar in the PA and Arafat has summoned representatives of the groups to his office in Ramallah and severely reprimanded them. You got a body count yet? In the petition, a copy of which was made available to the Post, the representatives wrote to the king: "Our people is passing through the worst phase of suffering... The PA is no longer capable of paying the salaries of its employees and civil servants... Tens of thousands of people are unable to provide milk for their children and the situation is increasingly deteriorating." "We appeal to Your Majesty, on behalf of our children, elderly and women, and on behalf of our martyrs, wounded and prisoners, on behalf of our fighters, to continue with your generous aid," the petition adds. I smell a opening here. Among the signatories to the petition are the General Union of Palestinian Students, the General Union of Palestinian Teachers, the General Union of the Palestinian Workers, The General Union of Palestinian Women, as well as other groups representing doctors, engineers, nurses, accountants, writers, pharmacists and journalists. This appeal to Jordan for financial aid is the first since the inception of the PA. After we kill all the vermin and fumigate the place, I think Jordan's King Abdallah could do a dandy job running the West Bank. Posted by: Steve 2003-02-05 |
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