Israeli report claims $2bn stolen from Palestinians

Israeli report claims $2bn stolen from Palestinians

www.thenational.ae

Jerusalem // Over the past four decades Israel has defrauded Palestinians working inside Israel of more than US$2 billion (Dh7.4bn) by deducting from their salaries contributions for welfare benefits to which they were never entitled, Israeli economists revealed this week.

A new report, “State Robbery”, says the “theft” continued even after the Palestinian Authority was established in 1994 and part of the money was supposed to be transferred to a special fund on behalf of the workers.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.redress.cc
www.alternativenews.org

According to information supplied by Israeli officials, most of the deductions from the workers’ pay were invested in infrastructure projects in the Palestinian territories – a presumed reference to the massive state subsidies accorded to the settlements.

“This is a clear-cut case of theft from Palestinian workers on a grand scale,” said Shir Hever, a Jerusalem-based economist and one of the authors of the report. “There are no reasons for Israel to delay in returning this money either to the workers or their beneficiaries.”

Palestinian workers in the construction sector have further been forced to pay 2% of their salaries to a fund “for the promotion of the construction sector in Israel.” This fund, managed by a non-profit association established specifically for this purpose, is meant to promote the hiring and training of Israeli workers in the construction sector.

The height of cynicism in using this Palestinian-financed fund was in its purchase of portable stoves for Israeli soldiers to use during the December 2008-January 2009 Israeli military attacks on the Gaza Strip.

While most of the “excessive deductions” taken from the Palestinian workers were done so via the Department of Payments of the Ministry of Interior, the Israeli trade union Histradut also took money from Palestinian workers whilst denying them even the possibility of membership in the Histradut and representation in a host of labour-related areas.

What the hell is matter with Israel!!!! Robbing the poor workers of their due payment, sad case. Is it not enough that the lands are being stolen, homes demolished, blockade, kidnapping, murder that now even whatever they work to earn is also being stolen.

Funny thing is nowhere in MSM was this reported anywhere.


www.thenational.ae
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 5-2-2010 by December_Rain]

Why am I not surprised ?

Whats an even bigger scam is the financial and military aid we've sent to Israel for the past decades ?

Aid we send when our own bridges are collapsing and we have millions out of work ?

And as far as the lack of coverage by the MSM.
Are you kidding me ?

This is simply more proof of who controls the media.

Anything that tends to slant towards Israel in a negative perspective is more often than not , NOT reported by the MSM.

Also as to why they hate the internet. Because people are beginning to read the truth.

The Abu Dhabi Media Company, who put out this publication, have typically cited a report called “State Robbery” (!!!) without substantiating anything themselves. Sounds like a really official report, doesn't it?

So if someone puts together a report with claims the Palestinians Authority stashed away billions in private Swiss bank accounts from international aid and donations (which happens to be the case and well-documented) - will the Abu Dhabi Media Company also report on this?

And will it become and will it become a subject for an ATS thread?

It was just one more way to oppress them.

They are not the first to do this to a people.....

reply to post by mmiichael


Start it. If you have the links and material, you should.

Only $2Billion?

Trust me its alot more thats just the tip of the ice-berg.

Stealing palestinian funds is part of the zionist programme to Choke the palestinians to death.

reply to post by mmiichael


You got a point that they have not provided a report 'as of yet', the article says the report is due to be published on the website end of Feb. Guess we can wait till then.

The full research, which will be available in late February 2010 in hard copies and on the website of the Alternative Information Center Arabic, English and Hebrew, includes precise sums deducted by the Israeli government for which Palestinian workers received no rights, in addition to a detailed research methodology and calculations for estimating the amounts that must be returned to the Palestinian workers.

Source: www.alternativenews.org...

Originally posted by Maxmars
reply to post by mmiichael

 

Start it. If you have the links and material, you should.

I don't want to further a malicious cycle that is prevalent around here. There are many problems in the Middle East, and the propagandistic deflection from the vast corruption and deception of various regimes is to make it appear as if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the primary cause of everything.

Not exactly news, the Palestinian leadership, particularly Yasser Arafat, have made careers and huge personal fortunes selling out their own people for decades. A matter of public record now, that came to light when Arafat died and his wife in Paris scrambled to transfer accounts to herself. Arafat personal net worth has been estimated as high as 3 billion.

Most of us who try to give a balanced portrayal of what goes on in the Middle East have given up in despair.

The forum has largely become a haven for Israel bashers posting anything negative, with or without foundation, found on the Net. Just check the subject headings for the last few months.

And of course this means Jews are evil and need to be wiped off the face of the map.

Newsflash, misappropriated and questionable taxes/deductions are a part of modern civilization. I live in the US, pay hefty fed and state income taxes, AND 10 percent sales tax on everything I buy. Don't make this out to be an evil Jew plot. Please.

Originally posted by mmiichael

Originally posted by Maxmars
reply to post by mmiichael

 

Not exactly news, the Palestinian leadership, particularly Yasser Arafat, have made careers and huge personal fortunes selling out their own people for decades. A matter of public record now, that came to light when Arafat died and his wife in Paris scrambled to transfer accounts to herself. Arafat personal net worth has been estimated as high as 3 billion.

Even though i don't agree with you for many things, i have to admit what you stated above is 100% correct.Arafat the bloody corrupt muppet hid billions in his Swiss account.So nice of him caring for the poor palestinians.

The forum has largely become a haven for Israel bashers posting anything negative, with or without foundation, found on the Net. Just check the subject headings for the last few months.

Don't try and justify israeli actions in palestine.You know clearly that they are not saints either and they have commited war crimes and continue to choke palestinians all in response to a few rockets made out of pringle tubes with an accuracy of 0.01%.

[edit on 5-2-2010 by merkava]

[edit on 5-2-2010 by merkava]

[edit on 5-2-2010 by merkava]

Originally posted by merkava
Don't try and justify israeli actions in palestine.You know clearly that they are not saints either and they have commited war crimes and continue to choke palestinians all in response to a few rockets made out of pringle tubes with an accuracy of 0.01%.

I don't argue with this adolescent level claims.

Now mainly with Iran funding and supplying, millions of dollars worth of state-of-the-art weaponry flows into Gaza through the tunnel networks and by sea every month.

Originally posted by mmiichael

Originally posted by merkava
Don't try and justify israeli actions in palestine.You know clearly that they are not saints either and they have commited war crimes and continue to choke palestinians all in response to a few rockets made out of pringle tubes with an accuracy of 0.01%.

I don't argue with this adolescent level claims. .

Now mainly with Iran funding and supplying, millions of dollars worth of state-of-the-art weaponry flows into Gaza through the tunnel networks and by sea every month.

'State-of-the-art' you say, no wonder we only see palestinian kids chuking stones at tanks and qassam home made rockets that an amateur rocket enthusiast would laugh at.Iran is indeed doing very well supporting the resistance.And the tunnels you talk about are normally used to bring in food, clothes, car parts, sheeps and donkeys.

What i always wonder is how do the 'state-of-the-art' israeli drones and jets fail to distinguish between civillians,hospitals, UN buildings, ambulances and hamas fighters.

Apparently those drones and jets are even capable to pinpoint an ant on ground.I think the israeli pilots should clean the optical lenses on their drones and jets before they go on a mission.


[edit on 5-2-2010 by merkava]

Originally posted by merkava

Apparently those drones and jets are even capable to pinpoint an ant on ground.I think the israeli pilots should clean the optical lenses on their drones and jets before they go on a mission.

Yo obviously don't know about Pallywood. The media industry of portraying the Palestinians as poor simple suffering victims.

en.wikipedia.org...

In fact the Palestinians maintain a higher standard of living than 90% of the Arabs in the Middle East despite exporting virtually nothing. They have among the best health and longest life expectency as well.

The orchestrated appeals to the West have created a robust economy for the leadership based on perpetual war with Israel. But instead of domestic reforms, creation of educational and industrial infrastructures, resources go to further weaponry acquisition and training.

The level of deception and corruption among Palestinian officials is shocking. It is one of the reasons the Saudis and other Arab countries are willing to provide arms to the Palestinians to attack Israel but will not allow the people themselves to ever become citizens or contribute to building up the domestic infrastructure.

No one in the Middle East takes the Palestinians at their word. Lebanon and Jordan have had bad experiences and thrown them out. Kuwait, which was a new home to 450,000 Palestinians expelled them all in the 90s.

reply to post by mmiichael


Why is it you always deflect the blame from israel onto what Arabs 'think' of palestinians or what the Sudanese are doing in darfur.

Yes i admit there are plenty of black sheeps within palestinian leadership but the suffering of the palestinian people isn't 'pallywood'.

And i wouldn't say palestinians have good standard of living compare to other Arabs.Palestinian lifeline is controlled by the israelis and day by day israel is making life harder for them.

I blame the Arab leaders around for not helping palestinians.They condone israeli actions but they pocket israeli gifts undercover, Mubarak prime example.

Originally posted by merkava
reply to post by mmiichael

 

Why is it you always deflect the blame from israel onto what Arabs 'think' of palestinians or what the Sudanese are doing in darfur.

Yes i admit there are plenty of black sheeps within palestinian leadership but the suffering of the palestinian people isn't 'pallywood'.

And i wouldn't say palestinians have good standard of living compare to other Arabs.Palestinian lifeline is controlled by the israelis and day by day israel is making life harder for them.

I blame the Arab leaders around for not helping palestinians.They condone israeli actions but they pocket israeli gifts undercover, Mubarak prime example.

I try to balance the rhetoric on this board where Israel is blamed for everything that is wrong in the Middle East.

I never see anything about the Palestinians other than the products of their PR machine.

www.israeltoday.co.il...

UN Report: Palestinians have higher Standard of Living than others
A report by the United Nations Development Program describes the economic situation in the Palestinian territories differently than what is frequently reported in the media. The Palestinians have a relatively better standard of living than assumed, and apart from this, they receive the second largest financial aid package in the world.

The 400-page annual report ranks 177 countries according to three criteria: income, health and education. The Palestinian Authority (PA), the only non-existing country under the name “occupied Palestinian territories,” is harshly criticized on page 75: “International aid for humanitarian relief projects are often misused because officials divert donor money for other purposes.”

The UN report draws three important conclusions.

First, the PA gets preferential treatment out of proportion to its needs.

Second, support should be cut off if the PA does not show initiative to develop economic independence .

Third, exaggerated financial aid from the West is preventing the Palestinians from independent economic development.

Mortality, poverty and hunger are criteria used to analyze and compare the economic plight of the Palestinians. In Africa, Asia and South America, 2.5 billion people are living on less than $2 per day. Ten million children, 5-years-old and under, die of hunger every year, while 850 million people are starving and malnourished. Compared to such poverty, the 3 million Palestinians in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip are much better off: Their financial aid package amounts to just under $900 million a year, or $288.60 per person.

[edit on 5-2-2010 by mmiichael]

Originally posted by mmiichael
I try to balance the rhetoric on this board where Israel is blamed for everything that is wrong in the Middle East.

"Balancing the rhetoric" by using the "rhetoric" of the opposing "faction" is doing neither yourself or anyone else a service. Including more rhetoric into an already heated topic with the excuse of intending to help is somewhat silly.

Yet somehow that's all the help I'm seeing.

I never see anything about the Palestinians other than the products of their PR machine.

I'm quite amazed here. The thread title: "Israeli report claims $2bn stolen from Palestinians" Your responses: "They don't have it that bad." "Pallywood!" "Secret Iranian tunnels are smuggling in X"

How again is this helping with all that loathsome "rhetoric?"


------

Back to reality.

The article seems plausible. I'm not surprised that there are not more sources when you take into account that while there is this surprisingly large level of "Israel-bashing" accusations flying around the net, I hardly ever see any MSM coverage involving any "Israel-bashing."

Of course, I view the MSM as one step above garbage, so I can't say I really watch enough of it to make a fully informed conclusion.

However, judging by what I do see of both "sides," neither group is any more/less innocent at this point at least on the adult level. No one ever seems to think about each others kids growing up in horrors that most Westerner's could never fathom seeing. It's always pro this or pro that, however it never seems to be pro-humanity. To say either side has it "better off" is the grandest stretch I could think of. They both live in constant hatred toward the other, hardly better off for anyone.

If money was taken, it should be given back with appropriate percentages of interest. If money was not taken, we all go back to our regularly scheduled program of Sick Sad World.

*edit - clarity

[edit on 2/5/10 by niteboy82]

Originally posted by mmiichael

I try to balance the rhetoric on this board where Israel is blamed for everything that is wrong in the Middle East.

I never see anything about the Palestinians other than the products of their PR machine.

www.israeltoday.co.il...

UN Report: Palestinians have higher Standard of Living than others
A report by the United Nations Development Program describes the economic situation in the Palestinian territories differently than what is frequently reported in the media. The Palestinians have a relatively better standard of living than assumed, and apart from this, they receive the second largest financial aid package in the world.

The 400-page annual report ranks 177 countries according to three criteria: income, health and education. The Palestinian Authority (PA), the only non-existing country under the name “occupied Palestinian territories,” is harshly criticized on page 75: “International aid for humanitarian relief projects are often misused because officials divert donor money for other purposes.”

The UN report draws three important conclusions.

First, the PA gets preferential treatment out of proportion to its needs.

Second, support should be cut off if the PA does not show initiative to develop economic independence .

Third, exaggerated financial aid from the West is preventing the Palestinians from independent economic development.

Mortality, poverty and hunger are criteria used to analyze and compare the economic plight of the Palestinians. In Africa, Asia and South America, 2.5 billion people are living on less than $2 per day. Ten million children, 5-years-old and under, die of hunger every year, while 850 million people are starving and malnourished. Compared to such poverty, the 3 million Palestinians in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip are much better off: Their financial aid package amounts to just under $900 million a year, or $288.60 per person.

[edit on 5-2-2010 by mmiichael]

That's a lie and false information, showing a year 2005 article, it's 2010. UN have some more things to say about the situation:

29 June 2009
ICRC Report: Gaza: 1.5 million people trapped in despair (29 June 2009)

17 August 2009
New UN report spotlights humanitarian crisis triggered by blockade of Gaza

14 Sept 2009
Gaza’s water supply in danger of collapse, warns UN report

18 September 2009
Leaked UN report echoes Goldstone and says Israeli blockade is leading to the ‘de-development’ of Gaza

2 October 2009
UN report says number of "abject poor" tripled in Gaza

15 October 2009
Farmers struggle with damaged agricultural land

18 Januray 2010
UN official highlights Gaza crisis

Last but not least:

Gaza Health Fact Sheet - 20 Januray 2010
The Gaza Strip has been the setting of a protracted political and socio-economic crisis. Recent events have resulted in a severe deterioration of the already precarious living conditions of the people in Gaza and have further eroded a weakened health system.

The closure of Gaza since mid-2007 and the last Israeli military strike between 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009 have led to on-going deterioration in the social, economic and environmental determinants of health.

REFERRAL ABROAD OF PATIENTS WITH SERIOUS MEDICAL CONDITIONS FOR SPECIALIZED TREATMENT OUTSIDE GAZA

Many specialized treatments, for example for complex heart surgery and certain types of cancer, are not available in Gaza and patients are therefore referred for treatment to hospitals outside Gaza. But many patients have had their applications for exit permits denied or delayed by the Israeli Authorities and have missed their appointments. Some have died while waiting for referral.

1103 applications for permits for patients to cross Erez were submitted to the Israeli Authorities in December 2009. 21% had their applications denied or delayed as a result of which they missed their hospital appointments and had to restart the referral process.

Two patients died recently while awaiting referral - one in November and one in December. 27 patients have died while awaiting referral since the beginning of the year.

PROVISION OF MEDICAL SUPPLIES – CENTRAL DRUG STORE

Supplies of drugs and disposables have generally been allowed into Gaza. However, there are often shortages on the ground mainly because of shortfalls in deliveries. The table below shows the drugs and disposables that are out of stock as a percentage of the essental list. The essential drugs list contains 480 items, and the medical disposables list is 700 items.

TRAINING OF HEALTH STAFF

- Health professionals in Gaza have been cut off from the outside world. Since 2000, very few doctors, nurses or technicians have been able to leave the Strip for training eg to update their clinical skills or to learn about new medical technology. This is severely undermining their ability to provide quality health care. An effective health care system cannot be sustained in isolation from the international community.

- During the health strike from end August to end December 2008, an estimated 1750 doctors, nurses and non-clinical staff from hospitals and health clinics went on strike and many of their jobs were filled by new people recruited by the de facto authority. Many of the staff who went on strike have not returned to their jobs

- In August 2008, two thirds of hospitals in Gaza had no maintenance staff. All Gaza hospitals . except the two in Rafah - now have engineers and technicians in post. But three quarters of technicians surveyed by WHO West Bank and Gaza in May 20091 had been in post for less than one year. Whilst half of the engineers had been trained in medical equipment maintenance, only one in four technicians had had any specific training.

- In medical schools and public health programs, curriculum development processes do not reach international standards.

GAZA'S ECONOMY IN COLLAPSE

Rising unemployment (41.5 percent of Gaza's workforce in the first quarter of 20092) and poverty (in May 2008, 70 percent of the families were living on an income of less than one dollar a day per person3) is likely to have long term adverse effects on the physical and mental health of the population.

WATER: OVER-EXTRACTION, SALINITY AND NITRATE LEVELS

The increasing salinity and high levels of nitrates in water supplies from the over-extraction of the ground water and the intrusion of salt water is a major concern for the safety of drinking water, particularly for children they are most vulnerable to high nitrate levels4. Salinity levels in water wells in most parts of the Gaza Strip are above the 250 mg/liter limit established by WHO, and nitrate concentrations exceed WHO guidelines of 50 mg/liter (up to 331 mg/l).

OPERATION "CAST LEAD" -- IMPACT ON HEALTH FACILITIES AND STAFF

- 16 health workers killed and 25 injured on duty

- Damaged health services infrastructure:
+ 15 of 27 Gaza's hospitals
+ 43 of its 110 Primary Health Care services
+ 29 of its 148 ambulances

- The lack of building materials is affecting essential health facilities: the new surgical wing in Gazafs main Shifa hospital has remained unfinished since 2006. Hospitals and primary care facilities, damaged during operation eCast Leadf, have not been rebuilt because construction materials are not allowed into Gaza.

Source: unispal.un.org...

"Balance" cannot be there on basis of lies and false information.

[edit on 5-2-2010 by December_Rain]

Originally posted by December_Rain


What the hell is matter with Israel!!!! Robbing the poor workers of their due payment, sad case. Is it not enough that the lands are being stolen, homes demolished, blockade, kidnapping, murder that now even whatever they work to earn is also being stolen.

Funny thing is nowhere in MSM was this reported anywhere.

So it's a good thing we're all to read about it here
Horrible if we should miss out on something Israel did.
You forgot to mention they're robbing organs

Do they ever sleep and eat ? No! They are super humans

Originally posted by flymetothemoon
So it's a good thing we're all to read about it here

Horrible if we should miss out on something Israel did.
You forgot to mention they're robbing organs

Do they ever sleep and eat ? No! They are super humans

Things are always hopping in Israel. They are busy dictating foreign policy to the US, setting up false flag terrorist operations, practicing genocide on the Palestinians (who somehow increase their population anyway), taking over Middle East territories (though they only have 0.2% and decreased in size the last few decades), developing deadly scientific devices to kill innocent people, and no doubt hundreds of other crimes against decency we don't know even hear about.