Theft of the EU Social Allowances

ملايين الإتحاد ألأوروبي تبعثر في حفلات فتح في أوروبا

On last March 29 2013, the anniversary 37 of the Land Day, in which several Palestinians were shot by the zionist dictatorial regime while protesting the planned theft legalized as “expropriation for security reasons” of thousands of dunums of land for colonial purposes, Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh, member of the Central Committee of Fatah movement, arrived in Europe in company of a number of Palestinian academics and doctors who have influential positions at the Palestinian Authority (PA) in order to engage in celebrations, dancing and singing under the excuse of “reviving the popular Dabka dance in the EU countries”. The Dabka is a popular folklore dance of Palestine, not of the EU, so logic dictates that Dr. Shtayyeh should try to revive the tradition of the Dabka in Palestine, where not only this tradition but all Palestinians are endangered due to the murderous zionist occupation.

Additionally, a Palestinian poet Rami Al-Youssef and singer Ahmed Qaabur from Lebanon arrived in the EU to perform concerts for Dr. Shtayyeh in company of a musical band. The EU tour of these Fatah leaders came after The EU released a “help” package of millions of Euros to the Palestinian Authority. Dr. Shtayyeh and his loyal entourage (loyal to the Fatah and the zionist occupation, that is) arrived the EU at the expense of the Palestinian Authority’s budget, misappropriated from EU funds provided to support the hungry Palestinian people and not to tour around the world.

The EU recently released financial package worth 155 million Euros from money of EU taxpayers, provided to the Palestinian Authority in order to pay the salaries of the employees of the so-called PA “security” coordination with Israel, the retirement pensions and the social security allowances for people who live in poverty in Palestine.

According to my sources, the funds supposedly allocated to social security purposes are not paid out to the supposed beneficiaries in a timely manner and in full, and as it looks, the EU EU is colluding to cover up the PA theft. The PA submits reports on their expenditures to the EU which do not correspond to the facts on the ground.

Thousands of slots on the PA payroll are actually people who have never seen the doors of their supposed offices in Palestine, they are simply minions of the regime who live in luxury around the world. The same can be said of hundreds of diplomatic employees personnel in the EU and around the world, where minions and the corrupt as untalented relatives of the well-connected occupy offices far above their abilities and are paid far in excess of any supposedly rendered “services”. Over the years I have met enough Palestinian “employees” who, while receiving monthly salaries because the hold a certain position, I know for certain that they have never seen the embassies where they supposedly work from the inside.

Below follows a statement released by the European Union (PDF Press Release) with the last financial package of donations provided to the Palestinian Authority in 2013, as well as a statement of the impoverished protesters who did not receive the social allowances supposedly allocated to them at the right time.

Press Release PR/11/2013 Jerusalem 4 APRIL 2013
The EU contributes €11.75 million to the Palestinian Authority’s March salaries and pensions

Today the European Union has made a contribution to the payment of the March salaries and pensions of around 76,000 Palestinian civil servants and pensioners in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

This contribution, of approximately €11.75 million, has been channelled by the European Commission through the PEGASE mechanism. The overall contribution of the EU to Palestinian salaries, pensions and social allowances in 2013 is €155 million.

“The funding provided by the European Union today illustrates our strong continuing commitment to the establishment of a future Palestinian state” said the EU Representative Mr. John Gatt-Rutter. “The PA needs a predictable, steady flow of assistance that helps it to meet its obligations towards ordinary Palestinians. We trust that in the upcoming months, the PA will overcome the financial difficulties that it has faced and continue to sustain the achievements accomplished so far”, the EU Representative added.

Background
Most of the European Union’s assistance to the Palestinian Authority is channelled through PEGASE, the financial mechanism launched in 2008 to support the PA Reform and Development Plan (2008-2010) and the subsequent PA Palestinian National Plan (2011-2013). As well as helping to meet a substantial proportion of its running costs, European funds support major reform and development programmes in key ministries, to help prepare
the PA for statehood in line with the plan put forward by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in August 2009. Since February 2008, around €1.4 billion have been disbursed through the PEGASE Direct Financial Support programmes. In addition, the EU has provided assistance to the Palestinian people through UNRWA and a wide range of cooperation projects.

It should be noted that on Friday 5 October 2012 – European Union and Belgium contribute €9.8 million to support Palestinian families living in extreme poverty in the West Bank and Gaza.

Huge Sums of Money are Squandered by the Ministry of Social Affairs

A letter landed in the Email Inbox of the site of Panet and the Panorama newspaper. The author of the message states: “In light of the difficult financial and economic conditions which the impoverished Palestinian people experience, especially and the poorest and marginalized classes, there are huge sums of money which are squandered, being wasted in an improper and unacceptable way. The worst money squandering occurs in projects under the oversight of the Ministry of Social Affairs, which supposedly are there to take care of the poor, the needy and other social cases.

The letter continues: “The clearest evidence of corruption is the delayed payment of social security money allocations to the poor and the beneficiaries of retirement pensions, which now already last over 3 months.

The EU and other friendly states provided money aids to the PA in order enable them to pay the benefits of the recipients of social security and retirement pensions. The EU helps to cover the allocation of 750 shekels monthly for each recipient of social security money, but because of the corruption and the thefts from these money pools, the social cases now receive their 750 shekels of social security money not monthly but once each three months.

The question is: are 750 shekels enough for three months for poor families which live under in an environment of prohibitively high prices”.

The letter was ended with the sentence: “Finally, we say to the Minister Magda Al-Masri that you are not fit to occupy the position of a minister, as you could not care less about the concerns and problems of the poor and marginalized social classes”. The Arabic text of this letter, which reached the Panet newspaper on 22.03.2013, can be read below.

Palestine Cry

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Saturday, April 6, 2013

Europa & Palestine News « Kawther Salam

Theft of the EU Social Allowances

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