A former Palestinian official, who survived an assassination attempt earlier this year, has attacked the Palestinian Authority, charging it with widespread mismanagement. Nabil Amr, the former Palestinian information minister, warned that Palestinians have to choose either genuine democracy based on the rule of law or national demise.
| That'd be kind of a national abortion, seeing as how they don't even have a state yet... |
He said the Palestinian Authority (PA) suffered from "rampant misgovernance, lawlessness and a lack of accountability".
| Noticed that, did you? Was that before or after you were part of the problem? |
Amr returned this week to his home town of Dura, southwest of Hebron, after a lengthy recuperation in Germany, where he had his right leg amputated. He survived an attempt on his life in the West Bank town of Ram Allah a few months ago.
| Just a run-of-the-mill political discussion in Paleostine... |
It is widely believed that gunmen close to the late Palestinian president Yasir Arafat were responsible for shooting Amr. The PA police have failed to catch the perpetrators, a fact Amr says underlines the incompetence and chaos permeating the Palestinian government. Speaking to Aljazeera in Dura, Amr accused the PA of failing to deal properly and seriously with the attempt on his life. "If this happened anywhere in the world, the perpetrator would be caught within 24 hours, but in Ram Allah those who were supposed to uphold the law and protect our security raced to hide and protect the would-be assassin so that he could try to assassinate other people. He who thinks that we are in the best conditions doesn't know what he is talking about." |