Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 30 Nov. - 6 Dec. 2000 Issue No.510

Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters

Less than they banked on

By Lola Keilani

"No comment. This is all I can say: no comment," frustrated Palestinian Finance Minister Zohdi Al-Nashash told reporters. The Palestinian official was speaking at the conclusion of a conference of Arab finance ministers last Thursday at the Arab League's Cairo headquarters.

The meeting was aimed at prodding league member states to honour a recent Arab summit recommendation to allocate $1 billion to support Palestinians. The Palestinian delegation, headed by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, had hoped to see the meeting adopt a resolution to provide immediate financial aid to the Palestinian Authority to help pay Palestinian employees' overdue wages, delayed due to the total economic blockade Israel has imposed on the Palestinians. This objective was not met.

"We are dismayed. We had hoped it would have been different," commented a member of the Palestinian delegation.

The conference yielded a pledge by participating countries to give less than two-thirds of the $1 billion earmarked to support the families of the Intifada martyrs and to help the Palestinian Authority maintain the Islamic identity of East Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque that are being subjected to Israeli Judaisation attempts. These funds, Saudi Crown Prince Abdallah had told the Cairo Arab summit last month, should be allocated to two separate funds slated for Palestinian support. Saudi Arabia had pledged to provide one quarter of the sum.

In addition to the Saudi contribution, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates committed $150 million each, Qatar promised $50 million, Egypt and Algeria promised $30 million each, Oman and Yemen promised $20 million each, Syria promised $7 million, Jordan $2 million and Sudan $1 million.

"This is as much as we can do at present. We hope other Arab countries will come forward with their contributions later on," commented Egyptian Finance Minister Medhat Hassanein, who chaired the meeting. "We also hope that Islamic countries, not only Arab ones, will have something to offer as was suggested during the Islamic summit [held in the Qatari capital earlier this month]," Hassanein told a press conference following the ministerial meeting.

As for the immediate needs of Palestinians, Hassanein said, "This meeting is not about offering donations, it is rather about establishing developmental funds to help the Palestinian economy."

Arafat told the meeting's opening session that two months of the Intifada and Israeli bombardment of civilian Palestinian targets has rendered 365,000 Palestinian jobless and has barred the Palestinian Authority from access to $320 million in customs and taxes held back by Israel. According to the estimate of the Palestinian finance minister, his authority needs $245 million in emergency money.

"We are in desperate need of some urgent aid, even if some Arab countries will only offer it in the form of loans. We need money before Ramadan begins," Arafat begged.

Hassanein told reporters that, in addition to their share in the two funds, the Saudis have donated $3 million for more pressing Palestinian needs. Other donations are also being collected in several Arab countries at the non-governmental level.

However, Palestinian officials say the Palestinian Authority has yet to access this money. For their part, the donors want to make sure the money will "go to those who desperately need it and will not be channelled to some Palestinian officials' bank accounts," commented one source at the Arab League meeting. He added, "Everybody is well aware of the level of corruption in some quarters of the Palestinian Authority."

To overcome this concern, Arab finance ministers have decided that before the start of the new year, each government will place its contribution to the two support funds in an account at the Islamic Development Bank, which will take charge of spending this money. "The bank will not receive any fees for doing this work, which will save the funds that would have gone to appointing a board of trustees," Hassanein explained. Meanwhile, an administrative board of finance experts from the donor governments will meet within the coming two weeks to decide on rules governing the spending of the money. The Islamic Development Bank would be entrusted with seeking additional aid for the developmental projects that will be adopted by the two funds.

Well and good, Palestinians say, but this is going to complicate the process. In the words of Nabil Shaath, the Palestinian minister for planning and international cooperation: "There has to be a way for marrying the rules of transparency and the urgent needs of the Palestinians."

Related stories:
Tempered anger at the summit 26 Oct. - 1 Nov. 2000

© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved

weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg