Without The West's Darling, Will The UN Recognize A Palestinian State?

Palestinian financial institutions are ready for statehood, an International Monetary Fund report praising Palestinian fiscal reform said Tuesday.

"The PA is now able to conduct the sound economic policies expected of a future well-functioning Palestinian state,'' the report said.
Ma'an News Agency, IMF: Palestinian institutions ready for state, April 8, 2011

Now, 3 months later, the prospects for UN recognition don't look quite so rosy as it turns out that Fayyad may be just as corrupt as the rest of the PA:

Bassam Zakarneh, chairman of the Palestinian Authority Workers’ Union, launched a scathing and unprecedented attack on Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Tuesday, accusing him of squandering public funds and refusing to take action against corrupt ministers.

Squandering funds may explain why the New York Times reported a budget crisis in the PA at the beginning of this month:

The Palestinian Authority will pay its employees only half their monthly salaries in July, the prime minister told reporters here on Sunday, because of what he said was “the failure of donors, including our Arab brothers, to fulfill their pledges.”

Prime Minister Salam Fayyad added that the salaries would be paid in full when the promised funds arrived.

According to the article, Fayyad blamed the lack of money on both Israel for the delay in giving over tax revenue and on the Arab states for failing to deliver on funds promised.

But now it seems there may be a different reason

:“We’ve discovered that some ministers and officials are receiving financial aid in their wives’ names,” Zakarneh told the paper. “Most of the aid authorized by Fayyad to the ministers and officials is in the context of support for the poor and families of martyrs. The money is paid to the wives [of the ministers and officials].”

Calling for an investigation into the allegations, Zakarneh pointed out that in one case the wife of a top official received more than $10,000 to purchase new contact lenses.

Keep in mind that these accusations are not coming from Hamas, which opposed the idea of Fayyad holding an official position--it is coming from Fatah.

More importantly, how can the European countries in general and the IMF in particular now claim that the Palestinians are ready for a state without looking ridiculous--or making clear that they are operating under an agenda that has nothing to due with Palestinian readiness for a state?

Of course, a lot depends on whether the accusations are proven, but just the fact that the accusations are being made in the first place is going to raise questions--assuming the media does not sweep this under the carpet.

If the media does ignore the story, then the agenda of the media will also be revealed.

Hat Tip: Z Street

Technorati Tag: Palestinians and Fayyad and UN.