I have checked the date three times: Wednesday, May 16, 2007. The article in the Jewish Press says that Olmert met with King Abdullah of Jordan on Tuesday. That would be the day before yesterday.
The two ... discussed the financial crisis in the Palestinian Authority and Abdullah urged Olmert to lift the economic blockade. Olmert said Israel would consider unfreezing the funds if it could be assured they would be used for humanitarian purposes.
If I hear one more time about the poorpalestinian "financial crisis," I'm going to FREAK OUT. Surely Olmert and Abdullah know what I know, what Haaretz knows, what the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs knows ...
Surely by now everyone knows that the poorpalestinians received a STAGGERING $900 million last year!
Aid to PA nearly tripled in '06, despite international boycott
Donations to the Palestinian Authority almost tripled last year as a result of the international boycott of the Hamas government, according to a report published this month by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).Aid in 2006 totaled $900 million, up from $349 million a year earlier.
The boycott meant that most countries refused to channel money directly to the PA, and Israel refused to transfer the tax revenues it collects on the PA's behalf.
However, Arab and Western nations continued and even increased their donations, channeling them through either a "Hamas bypass" mechanism known as the Temporary International Mechanism (TIM), or the office of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
.... the PA's gross domestic product fell by 8 to 10 percent in 2006....
According to the report, the biggest contributor to the PA last year was the Arab League, which gave $448 million. The European Union gave $219 million and the World Bank gave $42 million. In addition, the government obtained an estimated $180 million by smuggling in cash from abroad.
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