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| Israel-Palestine |
| Palestinian Authority sells off assets to make payroll |
| 2004-02-13 |
| C’mon down to the fire sale! The Palestinian Authority has begun to sell assets to pay salaries to employees. Palestinian officials said the PA sold its share in the Palestinian cellular phone company Jawal. The PA sold its 35 percent in Jawal for $42 million to pay salaries of PA employees. Officials said the PA sold its stake in Jawal to PalTel. PalTel already owns 65 percent of Jawal shares. Exploding cell phones now 2 for 1, wotta deal! But the Isreali-made ones are more expensive, since they’ve been field-tested. PA Communications Minister Azzam Ahmed said the sale was approved by Finance Minister Salam Fayyad. Fayyad is meant to supervise all of the business activities of the PA. "The transaction was carried out because of the financial difficulties of the authority and if it had not been done we would not have been able to pay the salaries of our employees last month," Ahmed said. I’d suggest you break the piggy bank, but I bet a good jihadi doesn’t have one of those. In January, PA officials warned that the Finance Ministry was broke and would not be able to pay salaries for February. Officials said the international community has been slow in fulfilling pledges to donate money to the PA amid concerns of a lack of transparency in accounting. "Marvin! What’s the latest on the accounting scandel at the PA?" "Mr. Secretary, they can’t account for 90% of what’s sent to them, and the other 10% is wasted." "Sounds worse than the Dean campaign. That’s a political joke, Marvin." "Yes sir." The lack of transparency has also blocked foreign investment in the PA. Azzam said the PA has failed to attract an Arab or Western investor in the Palestinian cellular phone market. Step right up for your chance to be looted and pistol-whipped! |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #12 I've heard their bake sale *bombed*..... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-2-13 3:04:47 PM |
#11 Palestinian Authority sells off assets to make payrollThe PA has assets? (Other than AraRat's Swiss and French bank accounts, that is.) |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-2-13 2:55:32 PM |
| #10 Good observation, B! However, I WAS hoping for the explosion this month. Maybe Arafat'll skim a good deal of this deal and they'll have to sell something else next month. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2004-2-13 12:23:31 PM |
| #9 How much did the portrait of St. Pancake bring in? |
| Posted by: Dar 2004-2-13 11:35:50 AM |
| #8 If Bush sends them one dime I will never vote for him. I will encourage others to do the same. Goodbye Fatah, Arafish, and Al irksa brigade. Btw...do they still have money for bombs and rockets? |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2004-2-13 10:43:58 AM |
| #7 So who owns Pal Tel? Maybe an Israeli front group what uses the cell network to locate terrorists. |
| Posted by: mhw 2004-2-13 10:04:18 AM |
| #6 "Sounds worse than the Dean campaign. That’s a political joke, Marvin That's not funny. |
| Posted by: Joe Trippi 2004-2-13 9:02:31 AM |
| #5 This is great news. It means that the terror funding really is drying up. 42 million won't go all that far. The Soros, Heinz-Kerry's and Ford Foundations of the world can only front so much before it starts to hurt their own pocketbooks, and the've got an election to fund this year. The EU is cash strapped and not getting any extra from Sadaam to cover the shortfalls showing up in the books. Kimmy's a little short and Putin's got a few extra expenses this month too. Waging war is expensive - and it looks like the hate-America crowd is a little overextended right now. |
| Posted by: B 2004-2-13 9:01:19 AM |
| #4 Palestinian Cellphone Service? Oh, boy, where do I sign! |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-2-13 8:48:48 AM |
| #3 hmmm. Earlier about 400 resigned from arafat's group. Now this. I think the Palestinian Authority will soon not have neither palestinians nor authority. |
| Posted by: PlanetDan 2004-2-13 8:33:03 AM |
| #2 well that took care of last month's payroll...what about this month? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-2-13 6:45:18 AM |
| #1 Not to worry, the EU will happily oblige. All it takes is one phone call. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2004-2-13 1:52:01 AM |