The Palestinian Leaders' War on Preventing Corruption

by Khaled Abu Toameh • June 17, 2019 at 5:00 am

The Palestinian Authority has chosen to crack down on anti-corruption activists as part of an effort to silence its critics and deter others from demanding transparency and accountability.
Stories concerning rampant financial and administrative corruption in the Palestinian Authority do not surprise those who have been reporting on Palestinian affairs in the past two decades. What is surprising is the growing number of Palestinian individuals and groups who are openly defying Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his senior officials by talking about and exposing corruption.
What Palestinian leaders are actually telling their people, in other words, is that anyone who complains about corruption is a traitor working with the Americans and Israelis against the interests of the Palestinians. This charge not only carries the death penalty, it brings shame to the accused and his or her entire clan. Palestinians are thus understandably wary of such an accusation.
Palestinian leaders not only deny their people the right to institutions of proper governing, they are now doing their best to block any chance of improving their living conditions by boycotting the upcoming Bahrain conference, whose main goal is to offer Palestinians economic prosperity and rid them of failed leaders whose sole interest seems to be enriching their own bank accounts and those of their family members.

(Image source: iStock)

A growing number of Palestinians are demanding that the Palestinian Authority (PA) take serious measures to end financial and administrative corruption among its top brass.

Rather than heeding these calls, however, the Palestinian Authority has chosen to crack down on anti-corruption activists as part of an effort to silence its critics and deter others from demanding transparency and accountability. The Palestinian Authority's measures against anti-corruption activists have angered many Palestinians, who are accusing their leaders of covering up for senior officials suspected of abusing power for their own personal gain.

In the past few days, the Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank arrested two prominent anti-corruption activists: Fayez al-Sweiti, Mohammed Ayesh and Saed Abu al-Baha.

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China: "Protecting" the Arctic

by Debalina Ghoshal • June 17, 2019 at 4:00 am

The Arctic -- where both the United States and Russia maintain a military presence -- is known for being rich in hydrocarbons. The Chinese, in their claims to such a valuable energy source, clearly do not wish to be left behind.
As China already has deployed anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-air missiles -- while planning to build and deploy floating nuclear reactors -- in the South China Sea, it is certainly plausible that Beijing has similar plans for the Arctic.
Both China's Arctic Policy and its Belt and Road Initiative seem paths towards what appears to be China's aim at achieving global hegemony.

Pictured: Thule Air Base, the United States Air Force's northernmost base, north of the Arctic Circle in Greenland. (Image source: US Air Force/Wikimedia Commons)

China's aggressive behavior in the South China Sea by now is old news, but Beijing's recent moves in the Arctic have been attracting attention.

The Arctic -- where both the United States and Russia maintain a military presence -- is known for being rich in hydrocarbons. The Chinese, in their claims to such a valuable energy source, clearly do not wish to be left behind.

Just as Chinese President Xi Jinping has been pushing the Belt and Road Initiative, he also aims to develop a "Polar Silk Road" for shipping lanes, which he believes are opening up due to glacial melting caused by global warming. This belief appears to stem from the "open polar sea" theory, according to which the polar seas created by climate change ultimately could be exploited for commercial purposes.

China spelled out its "Arctic Policy" in January 2018 in an extensive document, which reads, in part:

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