Palestinian Whistleblower: Yeah, I’m A Walking Dead Man

Availing themselves of blatant vote rigging, the Fatah “Old Guard” reasserted themselves last August, reaffirmed terrorism as a strategy, and formally rolling back the peace process. Or, per the AP’s Mohammed Daragmeh, “new Fatah leadership boosts Mideast peace efforts” in contrast to “a reluctant Israel.”

Given that they’re neither new nor particularly peace-boosting, it makes sense that Fatah leaders would still be wallowing in decades of financial corruption. Here to explain is whistle-blower Fahmi Shabaneh, who likely will not be with us much longer:

A senior Palestinian official who in recent days has confirmed the large-scale corruption in the Palestinian Authority that most long suspected said he doesn’t expect to be alive much longer… Fahmi Shabaneh [was] until recently the head of the anti-corruption unit in the Palestinian Authority’s General Intelligence Service… [he] revealed that most of the senior Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) officials who came from Tunis when the Palestinian Authority was established in 1993 have for years siphoned off taxes and foreign aid and today have millions of dollars stashed away and own extravagant palaces at home and abroad… he realized that all the money he returned to the PA’s coffers was only being stolen by someone different.

That’s a little hard to square with any of the official anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian narratives. It turns out that the West Bank’s economy is being stifled by something other than Israeli security measures. It seems that the Palestinians are less than ready for a state. And as for Fatah’s civic institutions and how they’ll stem Hamas’s encroachment into the West Bank – these revelations certainly don’t help.

In fairness, not all international assistance makes its way into private bank accounts. There’s definitely a good chunk of UK money that’s gone to fund systematic torture by Fatah operatives. So let’s be careful about exaggerating the scope of the corruption.

References and related after the jump…

References:
* Fatah Election: The Myths Unravel. Most moderate Fatah guy says election fraud is an Israeli conspiracy! [Rubin Reports]
* Old guard "hijacks" Fatah congress, say reformers [Reuters]
* “Moderate” Palestinian Leaders Say Terrorism an Option, Seek Iranian Support, Deny Existence of Jewish State [TIP]
* Will Fatah Give Up the Armed Struggle at Its Sixth General Congress? [Inbari / JCPA]
* New Fatah Leadership Boosts Mideast Peace Efforts [AP]
* Palestinian whistleblower expects to be assassinated [Israel Today]
* British police and intelligence officers sent to tackle UK-funded torturers on West Bank [Daily Mail]