Yesterday, PA president Mahmoud Abbas said that any attempts to help the Palestinian economy can "go to hell" because a political solution where he gets all his demands from Israel is the only possible track he will allow.
He said "Our cause is progressing step by step and we will reach, God willing, an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. The deal of the century which is the deal of shame will go to hell, Allah willing, and the economic project that they are working on next month will go to hell."
He said this while at a meeting thanking donors to the Mahmoud Abbas Foundation.
Some money, apparently, is more halal than others.
The Mahmoud Abbas Foundation is ostensibly meant to provide education for Palestinian youth, especially in Lebanon.
Its description on its website is exactly how one would expect a dictator who is pretending to care about his people to be described.
Its website has not been updated since 2015, although it looks like Cisco gave it some money to build a networking course in 2017. It has apparently not released an annual report since 2015.
Although it claims to have given $2.5 million to Palestinians in Lebanon to attend university, it has only two "success stories" on its site of actual students who received scholarships, along with photos of a computer lab it claims to have helped build - without showing any computers.
Needless to say, there are no audits of its financials, so while it may be a real charity it also might be a means to launder money or a means for Abbas to enrich himself while pretending to be helping his people. Or perhaps an ego trip since other Arab leaders have also established charity foundations and Abbas wants to look like a leader, while his people languish.