“The truth is that this embassy [in Tunis] was born from the Palestinian-Tunisian collaboration, and according to direct orders and instructions from His Honor [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas that we have headquarters for the State of Palestine’s embassies in the various world states and that they be owned by the Palestinian people… Also, it is true that the effort building this embassy is… part of a comprehensive effort that President Mahmoud Abbas has made to ensure for us ownership over embassies worldwide. Today we the State of Palestine has more than 100 embassies and ambassador residences, some of which contain residences for employees. This exists around the entire world and in various states in the world, and this [happened] during the years that have passed... These headquarters, embassies, ambassador residences, employee residences, and all these buildings that have come under the ownership of the State of Palestine are a national treasure for the Palestinian people, and certainly this treasure is the property of the Palestinian people… It is the Palestinian people’s right to be proud of this great achievement, which was realized as a result of great effort and attention by His Honor the President and was carried out by the Palestine National Fund.”
[Official PA TV News, Oct. 23, 2021]
Even though Assaf claims that the properties purchased are “owned by the Palestinian people… under the ownership of the State of Palestine,” this does not seem to be the case.
According to the financial reports published by the PA, from 2011 through August 2021, the PA expenditure on its “Ministry of Foreign Affairs” and “Embassies” totaled 2,815,958,000 shekels ($906,158,107 / €783,332,906).
While the purchase of “more than 100 embassies,” homes for ambassadors and residences for employees would ostensibly have been a substantial development expense, the reported “development expenditure,” of the PA Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Embassies for the same 10-year period totaled only 25,109,000 shekels ($8,085,971 / €6,978,898). In fact, according to the PA reports, the last time the PA “Embassies” reported any capital development was in 2011. That reported figure - 13,662,000 shekels - accounts for more than 54% of the reported development expenditure of both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassies for the entire decade.
According to its website, the “Mission of the State of Palestine” in Ireland is located in Dublin at 8 Leeson Street Upper. An extract from the Irish land registry shows that the property that houses the embassy was purchased in 2016 for €1,200,000. While the registry does not show who owns the property, news reports at the time confirm that that the property was purchased by “The Palestinian Mission to Ireland.”
So where did the money come from?
The PA financial documents show that during the same 10-year period (2011 – 2021), the PA transferred 6,189,394,000 shekels ($1,993,743,068 / €1,721,387,796) to the “PLO Institutions.”
While PMW has
already proved that much of the money transferred by the PA to the PLO was used to fund the PA’s monthly salary payments to terrorist prisoners and released terrorists, the PA’s financial reports also show that during the relevant 10-year period, the “PLO institutions” spent 158,876,000 shekels ($50,873,874 / €44,392,704) on “development expenditure.”
As Assaf commented, the purchase of the embassies was “carried out by the Palestine National Fund.” The Palestine National Fund is the financial wing of the PLO.
In other words, while the PA has been begging and receiving hundreds of millions of dollars/euros from donor countries to run the PA, in fact it would seem that large amounts have gone to the PLO to fund the purchase of the embassies. While the properties are meant to be the under the
ownership of the PA, in fact, it would appear that the properties are actually owned by the PLO.
Indeed, the UK land registry shows, for example, that on April 28, 2011, the building that hosts the PA mission in the UK was purchased
with ownership registered in the name of the PLO.
(full article online)
While the PA, headed by Mahmoud Abbas, is begging for aid, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), also headed by Abbas and funded by the PA, is building a multi-million dollar international real estate portfolio
www.palwatch.org
www.algemeiner.com
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