Aman, a Palestinian anti-corruption NGO, issued its annual report on corruption in the Palestinian Authority last week.
Its findings are exactly what you would expect - and so is the lack of news coverage.
They included:
-Passing of laws "to reinforce domination of the President’s office over public institutions and in particular the regulatory institutions. "
- Appointments to diplomatic, sharia and senior management in public institutions to Fatah loyalists or relatives of those in power.
- Firing or otherwise punishing PA employees who are not considered loyal enough to the government.
- Continued opacity in budgeting and spending, creating an atmosphere ripe for stealing government funds.
- The PA security services are used for political purposes.
Ironically, the head of the official Palestinian Anti-Corruption Commission was elected to chair the next session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Arab Convention against Corruption last month.
The PA is especially harsh to employees who are whistleblowers. Even though "Palestine" signs every international convention it can find, including against corruption and protecting whistleblowers, those who point out actual corruption get fired or even prosecuted.
Hamas, of course, is no better. Today there was an article about how massive amounts of aid sent to Gaza are disappearing, with Hamas presumably redirecting the aid to their own people or those it favors. One person reported seeing food that was labeled "a gift from the Italian people to Gaza" at a store warehouse in Nuseirat where it was going to be sold.
Outside The New Arab, I cannot find a single English-language news report of the Aman anti-corruption report. The region is filled with reporters yet they somehow manage to avoid any story that shows that the Palestinian Authority is filled with cronyism, nepotism and corruption, and that president Abbas is in every respect a dictator.
Because it doesn't fit the narrative of "evil Israel, righteous Palestinians," and that is the only story the media is willing to report.
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