generalspeaking

Trusting: Deceiving

People will believe what they must. People must have something to believe in, after all. And even while those in whom they believe and trust and rely upon are discovered to have deceived them by using their trust to camouflage corruption and self-entitlement, those very same people dependent on the reliability and dedication of their leaders simply refuse to see, to believe and to hold their deceivers to account.

And sometimes those who take affront at the deception and understand that it does occur and that it is withheld from the gullible and the innocent - and threaten to alert the world at large and sink the reputations of those held in high regard despite their moral failures - they become the target of death threats. Occasionally those threats prove sufficient deterrent for the one with knowledge of wrong-doing to fail to pursue his intent to unmask the deceivers; not always.

But it also happens that when a great popular swell of belief and dependence occurs, nothing can shake the trust of those who have been deceived. People in power whose declared duty is to dedicate themselves to the better futures that can be attained for a population, covertly line their own pockets with funds meant to alleviate the dire living conditions of those in their care. And those who trust them refuse to believe they need not.

We saw this happening with the late celebrated Palestinian leader of the PLO, Yasser Arafat, held in such preposterously high esteem internationally that he was able to stand at the podium of the UN General Assembly, with a pistol at his side, as a valued guest within that august international assembly. Inveighing against a state which his militant factions incessantly violently attacked.

Just as we later saw Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the very same place openly declare his country's intent to annihilate another country, without demurral from the UN hierarchy or the general assembly. These two outstanding figures of domination in their particular spheres were permitted to sully the atmosphere of an institution sworn to world peace.

Fatah, which inherited the mantle of leadership of the Palestinian Authority from Yasser Arafat, proclaimed themselves to be the protectors of the Palestinian people. Palestinians have been aware of the state of corruption that exists among the executive of Fatah, and deploring it, voted into political power a clearly violently militant Hamas whose purpose is to dislodge Israel.

Yasser Arafat, despite public knowledge of his betrayals to his people, his corrupt self-endowment of international funding meant to improve the lives of ordinary Palestinians, to this day enjoys a high level of respect even adoration, such as that given to heroes. Fatah continues to insist they have the interests of all Palestinians in mind as they endeavour to position themselves in a treaty with Israel.

A former Palestinian Authority official, tasked with rooting out corruption where it exists within Fatah now finds himself a political pariah whose life is threatened by the very entity that placed him in his position of authority to battle corruption. He has been dismissed from the Anti-Corruption Department in the PA's General Intelligence Service for the sin of disclosing existing corruption.

"It's hard to find people in the West Bank who support the Palestinian Authority. People are fed up with the financial corruption and mismanagement of the Palestinian Authority", Mr. Shabaneh testified during an interview. "Had it not been for the presence of the Israeli authorities in the West Bank, Hamas would have done what they did in the Gaza Strip."

Mr. Shabaneh is defiant, having delivered an ultimatum to the PA's President Mahmoud Abbas; that he is required to undertake the removal of corrupt officials, to prevent the issue from being aired as a public revelation. He has promised to expose sleaze and corruption at the elite level of Fatah, and for his pains a warrant has been issued for his arrest; he is charged with corruption.

He will reveal matters that "would seriously embarrass the PA and even harm its relations with Arab and Muslim countries, as well as donors", Mr. Shabaneh informed the Jerusalem Post. "Everyone should know that many of the senior officials who came from Tunis after the Oslo Accords now have millions of dollars, and palaces."

He describes Palestinian Authority officials enriching themselves by stealthily whisking away hundreds of thousands of dollars, including a large proportion of the $4.2-million received from the U.S. before the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary election. He warns that what occurred in Gaza is entirely likely to re-occur in the West Bank.

This information is undoubtedly not new to many outside the PA, but when it is revealed by one of the inner circle who was particularly tasked to unveil corruption where it occurs, it has an added measure of reality, one no amount of political pressure and threats is able to subdue. The veracity of his statements is downplayed by the PA.

And Mr. Shabaneh has reconciled himself to the potential of an early death. At age 40 he has prepared himself: "I gathered my wife and five children and told them to expect the worst. I told them that I have chosen this path and I have no regrets."

Labels: Economy, Middle East, Political Realities

posted by Pieface @ Saturday, February 13, 2010