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Israeli report says little Palestinian infrastructure created with funds
By Jon Dougherty
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
Rather than utilize Israeli and other aid money for infrastructure, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has spent most of the Palestinian Authority's funds on stockpiling weapons and preparing for conflict with Israel.
The Jerusalem Post said on Monday that Israeli intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Arafat would be "forced to address issues such as the thousands of unemployed families and must treat the large number of casualties from the last eight months" if he were to end the current "intifada" against the Jewish state.
"He will also have to focus on rebuilding his economy," one official said, according to the paper.
The report comes as Israel has been under fire for utilizing U.S.-made F-16 fighters to strike at Palestinian targets last Friday.
Israel used the warplanes in retaliatory strikes on Palestinian security forces headquarters in Nablus and Ramallah after a Palestinian suicide bombing in Netanya killed five Israelis. The Bush administration has expressed muted criticism over the use of the jets, but U.S. law permits American-made military hardware to be used for self-defense purposes.
Israeli intelligence officials, meanwhile, refuted earlier claims by some analysts that the Palestinian Authority was losing power and on the verge of collapse. Instead, they said there is no real "authority" because "services are given to Palestinian civilians."
The PA "does not enforce law and order, and there is no central governing body, but several institutes," one official told the Post. "All efforts are being focused on continuing the violence and creating a war-like atmosphere, and part of establishing such an atmosphere is to stop offering services to the public and refrain from paying salaries."
Also, Israeli officials cited a recent survey that said most Palestinian civilians backed continued violence against the Jewish state.
"PA Chairman Yasser Arafat perceives the Palestinian Authority as a tool to be used for his own means; at present he is interested in continuing the 'Palestinian struggle' because it suits him," a separate intelligence official, who was also unnamed, told the paper.
The officials said Arafat had managed for years to deceive Israel into believing that aid money was being used for development and agricultural projects, not weapons.
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