Todah rabah to Lori for pointing this out to me.
Today's State Department Press Briefing
QUESTION: A Palestinian-related question. Apparently, Palestinian Prime Minister Fayyad has appealed to the World Bank to help him get emergency funding to bridge a shortfall in donor funds to pay their public workers. And I just wonder if you’re going to get involved in this in any way. Maybe you would increase your contribution to the donor fund or there’s some other way that you can help them bridge that shortfall?MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah. Let me look into the specifics of it. I hadn’t seen that story. I know that we are involved on a regular basis in urging donors who have made pledges to fulfill their pledges. Very oftentimes, it’s the case that donors are either slow to or fail to meet their commitments in terms of the Palestinians and often – and you do very oftentimes get to these situations or close to these kind of situations where -- the Prime Minister Fayyad has a hard time meeting his payroll. Let me see if we can –
QUESTION: Okay. Thank you.
MR. MCCORMACK: -- I’ll look into this a little bit more, see if we can get you some more details.
You have to hand it to Mr. McCormack. He dutifully came up with the details and sent them out in a press release. (This must be almost as important as the Fulbright Scholars.)
Question: Reports indicate that Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has reached out to the World Bank to secure emergency funding for public works. Is the Department of State aware of any appeal to the World Bank by the Palestinians? What has been the U.S. contribution to the Palestinians? Will the United States press the donors to assist the Palestinians?[NEW] Answer: We would refer you to the World Bank and Palestinian Authority for details on their communications with each other.
It has been clear for some time that the Palestinian Authority faced a serious and imminent budget crisis. This is why we have been working urgently with the Palestinian Authority and our partners in the international community, in particular with regional partners committed to peace, to do everything possible to support the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people. As Secretary Rice said in May, "states that have resources ought to be looking not for how little they can do, but how much they can do."
The United States remains the largest single state donor to the Palestinian Authority. We have provided $562 million in total assistance in 2008, surpassing our pledged level of $555 million.
This includes
- $264 million in project assistance through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL);
- $150 million in direct budget support - the largest single tranche for funds provided to the Palestinian Authority by a single donor country;
- and $148 million in contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
The United States remains firmly committed to supporting the Israelis and Palestinians with the resources and resolve of the American government as they work to realize peace. We continue to urge all donors to maximize their budgetary support for the Palestinian Authority during this critical time.
So out of $920 million disbursed to the palestinians in the last six (now seven) months, the U.S. has contributed $562 million, or 61%. I'm no economist, but it seems to me that all these international donor conferences are adding up to a big ripoff of the American taxpayer.
At first glance this response seems to be about the Arab countries not fulfilling their pledges.
The palestinians will bleed this country dry if they can, and they'd turn on us in a nanosecond. They have no loyalty to us, no relationship. Meanwhile, the Arab countries won't pay up, but it won't affect their relationship with the palestinian leadership... because that's all about family, tribal, religious and ideological loyalties. Foggy Bottom doesn't seem to realize that we have none of that "infrastructure" with these people. They'll gladly take our money, hug our president, and then do exactly as they please (most likely having to do with killing Jews).
Foggy Bottom doesn't have a clue, but they certainly do have a lot of Arabs and American Arabist sympathizers incessantly courting and pressuring them. Not that that's any excuse for the Bush administration selling out Israel against the will of the Congress and the electorate. Just think, how many times do you imagine a representative of Israel's interests bangs on Condi's door? vs. the multitudes of lobbyists for 22 Arab countries (most, if not all, with oil to sell). Let's face it, the Israel Lobby just isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Makes me sick - all that American taxpayer money to palestinians, and just like with Arafat, no transparency. And they're giving what, 40% to HAMAS?
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PA "President" Abu Mazen, Feb. 12th, 2008: "Hamas are our brothers and part of the Palestinian people."
PA Prime Minister, Finance Minister & Foreign Minister Salam Fayyad, April 5th, 2008: "There is no solution for the troubles in Gaza, or for the rockets being fired from it ... All we can do is transfer funds to the Gaza Strip."
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How many more days does Condi have left? And how much damage can be done? Call your representatives in Congress. Since so many are running for re-election, they might just promise you they'll shut off the faucet to these liars, cheaters and thieves.
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