Typical everyday corruption, to be sure...

A top aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was caught at a border crossing with 3,000 contraband cell phones in his car, bringing embarrassment for an administration already struggling with sagging popularity over stalled peace talks with Israel. The aide, interim Palestinian President Rauhi Fattouh, said Wednesday he was unaware of the illicit phones and cigarettes found by Israeli officials and blamed his driver of several years. But with cell phones and cigarettes selling in the West Bank for a premium over their cost in neighboring Jordan, the smuggling case could be a new snag for Abbas' Fatah movement.

... but this was what the State Department's position in 2005:

QUESTION: You mentioned the transparency within the Palestinian authority and now there is a new Palestian President. There is still a perception among the Palestinian people that the Palestinian authority itself is corrupt. Are you going to tie U.S. aid to a pledge from President Abbas to launch and anti-corruption drive?
SECRETARY [RICE]: There’s no doubt that we cannot be in a position of giving aid where there is not transparency. All of American development assistance in recent years, like the Millennium Challenge account for instance, insists on good governance as one of the prerequisites for the granting of American assistance. And so I would think that we would also expect good governance in the Palestinian territories if American aid is going to be flowing there.

Begging the immediate question: can we have back the $150 mil that Rice just cleared for the Palestinians? Because we know somebody who's pretty grumpy about the whole thing.

References:
* Abbas Aide Caught With Contraband Phones [AP]
* Interview With Andrea Koppel of CNN [State Dept]
* U.S. and Palestinians sign $150 million agreement [Reuters]
* IMPEACH BUSH [Boker Tov Boulder]

Previously:
* The Palestinian Deprivation Myth - Maybe If They Spent More Of Their Massive Aid Packages On Medicine and Less On Their Own Bank Accounts...
* Quick Three-Minute Overview Of What Hamas Was Saying Just Before They Were Elected [Video]
* Mere Rhetoric Evaluates Palestinian Opinion Poll, Walks Away Unsurprised