Al-Ahram Weekly: 1st-7th April, 1999

Heading:
“An UNWRA report proves that some officials have been mishandling funds. But, as Zeina Khdor reports from Beirut, Palestinian officials are worried that delays in tackling the scandal could have adverse effects on refugees.”

Excerpts:
The Palestinian Popular Committee at the Ain Al-Helweh refugee camp in the southern city of Sidon has for years been complaining about corruption and mismanagement within the administration of the UN Relief and Works Agency, UNWRA.

But the relevant authorities only began to take their allegations seriously last November when the director general of UNWRA in Lebanon, Wolfgang Plaza, vowed to uncover the “truth”. Plaza had urged the UN to launch a thorough investigation into reported acts of embezzlement and squandering of funds at UNWRA.

A few days later, Plaza was forced to relocate to Brussels. He said he was “summarily dismissed” because he did not meet deadlines to reply to requests by UNWRA for information about the corruption allegations he had made. Palestinian sources said Plaza was given an “administrative holiday” to prevent him from uncovering a scandal at the agency.

Two investigations were launched in December 1998: one ordered by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the other by UNWRA’s Commissioner General Peter Hansen.

Upon the request of the German government, UNWRA officials in Gaza investigated three German-funded projects in Lebanon.

The final report charged that senior UN officials changed the terms and conditions for a tender to build a school. By doing so, the contract was won by an under-qualified construction company.

“The final report admits clearly that there was corruption and mismanagement at all managerial levels in the Lebanon office and the UNWRA headquarters in Gaza,” Ghazi Al-Assadi, another member of the Palestinian Popular Committee at Ain Al-Helweh, told Al-Ahram Weekly….. “… so far, no action has been taken,” Al-Assadi said. “We demand the commissioner general and the director of UN affairs in Lebanon take immediate disciplinary action,” he said.

It is believed that measures will not be taken until a report by an international investigating team from New York is made public. But the Palestinian committee is worried that the delay in releasing that report may be an excuse to cover up the charges.

“The team left Beirut six weeks ago. They were supposed to present their report three weeks ago,” Al-Assadi said.

The Weekly contacted the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services in New York to find out what had happened to the report, but there was no one available at the office.

Furthermore, the Palestinian committee has criticised what it sees as the failure of the Gaza report to assess work carried out in one of the camps accurately.

Projects have now been put on hold, following reports of corruption that made donor nations question how their money was being spent…. Palestinian officials say the refugees will lose out further if there are any more delays in tackling the corruption scandal.

“The money sent by international donors for the Palestinian people is not reaching them and this cannot be allowed to continue,” Makdah said.

Full Text:
Sir
Ever since Mr Netanyahu came to power in Israel, I have been following the strange way he has been conducting Israeli policies towards the Arabs with great apprehension and disappointment, undoubtedly like many other Egyptians.

I cannot help wondering just how valid today is what Sir John Nicholls, British ambassador to Tel Aviv from 1954 onwards, said after a few months at his post: “The centre of infection in the region is Israel and I believe that we must treat the Israelis as a sick people.” The quotation is from Keith Kyle’s admirable book: Suez, 1991, p.67, published by Mamdouh El-Dakhakhni in Alexandria, Egypt.

Translations by
Dr. Joseph Lerner,
Co-Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
P.O.BOX 982 Kfar Sava
Tel: (+972-9) 760-4719
Fax: (+972-9) 741-1645
imra@netvision.net.il