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Bush Advisor Calls P.A, "A Corrupt Regime," Urges E.U. to Cut Aid
LONDON, Dec. 9 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The United Kingdom and other European states were urged Saturday evening by a leading adviser to U.S. President George W. Bush to cut all aid to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, a British daily newspaper reported Sunday.
Richard Perle, head of the Pentagon defense policy board, called Arafat's government a "corrupt regime" and said that the annual E.U. payment of around £110 million a year to the Palestinian Authority was supporting it, according to
The Telegraph.
"Perle, upon whom President Bush has lavished praise in recent weeks, called on the E.U., to abandon its support for Arafat," said the paper.
"The justification for funneling money to a corrupt regime was that it would somehow assist in producing peace," said Perle. "It is now very clear that it is not doing that and I think anyone with any sense recognizes that it will not do that. The rationale is gone."
He added that he thought those who assumed that if Arafat went his successor would be worse, were mistaken. "It may well be better," he said.
The E.U. has long been the leading funder of the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) under the leadership of Yasser Arafat, said
The Telegraph.
Between 1994 and 1998, it gave more than £1 billion to finance projects in the Gaza Strip and West Bank - more than half of the world's aid to the region. It also gives an average of £110 million a year "in direct support of the Palestinian Authority, refugees and regional peace process projects."
In addition to its contribution to E.U. aid, Britain has also been a significant sponsor of Arafat, this year giving a further £14 million to the Palestinian Authority.
The Telegraph quoted a spokesperson for the U.K. Department of International Development as saying that £6 million of the aid package was "a result of the Intifada".
In recent years, several allegations of corruption have emerged in the Occupied Territories, with senior figures in the Authority accused of taking advantage of lax auditing procedures, said the paper.
However, foreign office officials late Saturday defended the policy. They insisted that it gave the E.U. influence over the Palestinian government. Withdrawing the aid, they claimed, would increase the "conditions in which terrorists thrive".
"The situation in the Occupied Territories is very grim," a spokesman said. "To halt aid would only make the situation worse."
But Perle, who is among advisers calling for tough action on Iraq in the next stage of the U.S.-led "war on terrorism", said that any such move must also include action against Palestinian resistance movements, said
The Telegraph.
"The organizational chart of terrorism looks like a bowl of spaghetti," he said. "There are cross-cutting links of all kinds; you find IRA demolition experts training in Latin America, you find Hezbollah training ETA. They seek each other out and work together."
He urged the West not to ignore the bombing attacks in Haifa and to include the P.A. in their fight against terror.
The adviser's comments will further fuel tensions between the U.K. Foreign Office and the Pentagon. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw reacted with fury after Perle described his recent trip to Iran as "a rather foolish foray" and "absurd".
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