Palestine. Intéressant sujet quasiment jamais évoqué publiquement: les dettes contractées par l’Autorité palestinienne (PA) dont l’existence a été révélée à l’occasion du départ du ministre des Finances Nabil Qassis. L’auteur de l’article, Abdel Bari Atwan (Rédacteur en chef de Alquds Alarabi) s’insurge contre une situation qui non seulement hypothèque l’avenir des Palestiniens mais leur fait supporter aussi le coût de l’occupation israélienne (En général, on s’accorde à dire que c’est la communauté internationale qui, par ses aides, finance l’occupation israélienne des territoires palestiniens).
PA debt as repressive as Israel
Abdel Bari Atwan (Alquds Alarabi)
13 April 2013
▻http://www.bariatwan.com/english/?p=1572
“We are very shocked to learn that the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah has run up debts approaching $5bn and that $1bn is external debt. These debts are a heavy burden on the Palestinian people, and will extend to the coming generations. Most Palestinians thought that the PA’s funding came from the donor countries, not debts that would constrain the hands of the Palestinian people and break their will.
The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Prime Minister Salam Fayyad have been airing apparently logical comparisons between the prosperous conditions of the Palestinians in the West Bank and the deteriorating conditions of the residents of the Gaza Strip. However, these Palestinian officials have not mentioned that such prosperity came as a result of borrowing the billions of dollars from foreign banks and institutions, not as a result of the fiscal genius of the government and its prime minister, who was a World Bank economist from 1987 – 1995 and was dispatched to the West Bank by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
I am not biased towards Hamas in the Gaza Strip, as I reject the way it deals with its citizens with an iron fist, the spread of corruption, and the level of interference in their personal lives. However, I am biased towards the Palestinian people and their future. They will be under pressure of this debt for decades ahead.
(…) I thank God for the resignation of Dr Nabil Qasis, which freed him to open up this issue of debts, to expose the cover-up of the increasing financial quagmire. The Palestinian prime minister should resign from his position, as he has plunged his country, subject to Israeli occupation, into debt. Salam Fayyad and his President Mahmoud Abbas should bear the responsibility of this disaster. They should resign from their positions as they have exempted the Israeli occupation from bearing its responsibility for over 20 years since signing the Oslo Agreement. (…) The PA, that now supports the Israeli occupation by borrowing money that it knows it cannot pay back, must be dissolved.”
#Abbas #Fayyad #West_Bank #Gaza #Qasis #Oslo_Agreement #debt
