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U.S. Complicit with PA Budgeting Mischief

(P J Media) Shoshana Bryan - The Palestinian Authority is crying poverty again, complaining about a decrease in expected levels of foreign aid that will force Palestinians into penury or - heaven forbid - tax increases. U.S. aid amounts to about 15% of the total announced Palestinian budget and nearly 50% of all expected aid. Despite the U.S. designation of Hamas as a terrorist organization, some of that money goes to Hamas in Gaza. Hamas employs 32,000 people - about two-thirds of whom are security officers, paid out of the PA budget and not counted in Hamas' own official spending. The U.S. gives the PA $200 million in "direct budgetary support," meaning money that can be spent on whatever the PA thinks important - like Hamas security forces. (Or the Palestinian Broadcasting Service - which is not permitted to receive direct U.S. funding because it preaches hate and violence - but which receives money from the PA budget). The writer is Senior Director of The Jewish Policy Center.
2012-04-03 00:00:00
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