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UK Minister: Donor Money Funded PA Corruption
(House of Commons) UK Minister for the Middle East Dr. Kim Howells told the UK House of Commons on Wednesday: "It distressed many of us to see how the greenhouses were looted at disengagement....That was an act of incredible stupidity, because perhaps as many as 10,000 people were employed in those greenhouses. I was glad to hear over the past couple of weeks that the Saudis and Israelis, among others, have put money into replacing the components of the greenhouses that were looted and sold off, presumably on the streets of Gaza." "I was in Ramallah three weeks ago. I had not been there for 13 years, and I did not recognize it. It was full of flashy apartments. Where did the money come from? A prominent Palestinian told me, 'Well, we've had a decade and a half of chronic, corrosive corruption.' That is where the money has come from. Year after year, the donor countries gave money to the Palestine Liberation Organization, and what happened to it? It was used to pay off Arafat's cronies, and a lot of it ended up in bank accounts in Zurich and in property. It is a disgrace."