Press Releases
WEINER RIPS PLAN TO SEND DIRECT AID TO THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
Washington, D.C. – According to news reports, President Bush is planning on sending $20 million in direct aid to the Palestinian Authority. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens and Brooklyn), author of legislation to end aid to the (PA), released the following statement:
“The IMF has detailed hundreds of millions of dollars that Yasser Arafat stole during his lifetime. It’s still missing, and before we do anything else we should find out where it went. Let’s start with Suha.
“To make matters worse, last October three Americans were killed in Gaza, but the Palestinian Authority has not cooperated with the FBI even though they say they know the identities of the killers. To reward that intransigence with direct aid is outrageous.”
The International Monetary Fund estimates that between 1995 and 2000, Arafat funneled at least $900 million from the Palestinian Authority’s budget to his personal bank account.
In addition, according to the IMF, Arafat received as much as $74 million or nearly 8% of the PA budget, including money sent to the PA for humanitarian and economic assistance.
CBS’s 60 Minutes reported that Arafat sent $100,000 per month to his wife, Suha, in Paris. In 2000, Rep. Weiner became the first Member of Congress to respond to Palestinian terrorism with legislation--H.R. 1087, To Prohibit United States Assistance for the Palestinian Authority and for Programs, Projects, and Activities in the West Bank and Gaza--aimed at ending non-humanitarian aid to the Palestinian Authority. He has subsequently reintroduced the legislation as both free standing bill and amendments to appropriations.
Congressman Anthony D. Weiner
