SAY IT AIN’T SO, YASSER

German politicians call on EU to stop sending aid to PA (Douglas Davis, Jerusalem Post, July 22nd , 2004)

Leading German politicians are calling on the European Union to freeze its aid to the Palestinian Authority amid reports that PA chairman Yasser Arafat made multi-million-dollar transfers to a personal bank account abroad.

The allegations, substantiated by documents, were made this week by German public broadcaster ARD, which reported that Arafat had wired some $5.1 million to his personal account at the Arab Bank in Cairo in September 2001.

Following the disclosure, Armin Laschet, co-chair of the EU parliamentary committee that oversees aid to the Palestinians, told the Hamburger Abendblatt that the Palestinians had used the funds illegally. And, he conceded, the EU had committed "grave errors" in its funding of Arafat.

Laschet, a representative of Germany's opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) at the European Parliament, noted that the EU had provided the Palestinian Authority with some $10 million a month from 2000 to 2003. He admitted that there were inadequate controls over the funds.

Anything that cuts off funds to Arafat is welcome. However, the sole concern here seems to be personal corruption. The fact that Europe has stood by for years and watched its funds used to fund terror and kill Israelis is presumably not included in the “grave errors”or inadequate controls.