http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/03/25/israels-seizure-palestinian-taxes-sparks-economic-devastation-mounting-resistance

Is Israel continues to withhold $130 million a month in revenue from the Palestinian Authority, officials warn that the West Bank's already choked economy is teetering over the edge, with most public employees facing salary cuts of 40 percent or more and the government close to default.

"We have informed the Palestinian Authority that we have reached the limits permitted to them, or are about to get there, and that banks will not be able to continue to fund it," Palestinian central bank Governor Jihad al-Wazir told Reuters on Wednesday.

"The situation in general is very tough," al-Wazir continued. "Suspending the tax transfers is leading to a rapid economic deterioration."

Ordinary people are bearing the brunt of these policies. Reuters reports:

Nidal Sadqa is a 47-year-old father of four who works for the Palestinian economy ministry in Ramallah and for the past three months he has been paid 60 percent of his usual salary. Half of what's left each month pays bank loans and other debts.

"I haven't paid the rent for three months and I owe the supermarket for things I've already taken," he said, describing circumstances familiar to the nearly 160,000 people employed by the Palestinian Authority in Gaza and the West Bank.

Has also not been transferred to the Palestinians as promised by numerous countries in the region (and around the world).

that Arafat stole?

http://electronicintifada.net/content/imf-audit-reveals-arafat-diverted-900-million-account-under-his-personal-control/1348

QUESTION: Mr. Nashashibi, you mentioned more or less in passing that you discovered that some US$900 million over five years had been diverted from the budget to an account, if I understood you correctly, personally controlled by Yasser Arafat. Can you indicate whether there’s anything very unusual in this? And are you leaving open the possibility that some of that money has been, let’s say, misused?

MR. NASHASHIBI: No, this money was basically, as I said, in a special account. Most of it has been used to invest in Palestinian assets, both internally and abroad. One of the things that the reform process has done is they have tallied all the Palestinian assets by international auditors. It turns out that the PA was involved in 69 commercial activities, both at home and abroad. The tally of this current level of asset is around US$700 million in terms of at today’s market prices, which probably in ‘99 were US$900 million.

So I would say that the large majority of this money has been invested in assets that today are still within the public domain. So I think at least there is a follow-up, there is disclosure. The Palestinian Investment Fund has been set up to manage these assets, and to privatize these operations. I think the objective of the PA is to get out of all these commercial activities.

Arafat's Billions

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/arafats-billions/

Electronic Intifada is a propaganda site.

Quite a bit was invested in Palestinian industry. Of course public investment would have been better than privae--glad to see you agree.

Arafat's shortchanging of Gaza compared to the West Bank, BTW, is the main reason Gaza voted Hamas in.

The funds are being turned over and no longer being withheld.

ain't so bad..or some such bullshit.