In a disturbing report published today by the Taxpayer’s Alliance, it is revealed that much of development aid from the UK and EU to the Palestinian Territories is being misused. Instead of being spent on vital resources to improve the lives of Palestinian citizens, funds are being spent on hate education in schools and ending up in the hands of terrorist groups, who use the money for propaganda and much more besides.
Children are being taught with text books that contain vile anti-Semitic, anti western imagery. Although it seems that the Taxpayers Alliance have produced the report on the grounds of taxpayer value for British taxpayers, there are much wider implications. If Palestinian children continue to be taught (via text books, TV and radio), martyr and murder messages – in essence hate propaganda - then the prospects for peace in the Middle East remain bleak, whatever is negotiated at important conferences and summits.
Overseas aid needs to be much more bilateral and closely targeted at those projects which are genuinely improving people’s lives. It is good that Shadow Foreign Minister David Lidington MP has reacted strongly to the report and has said he will take up the issue with Palestinian Representatives in London. It is understood that MEPs in Strasbourg are also taking a keen interest in this and there is likely to be an MEP inquiry into the misuse of aid to the Palestinian Authority.
It is important to note that this misuse of aid is totally separate from the aid corruption issue, in which millions of dollars of aid to the Territories went into Swiss bank accounts et al, when Yasir Arafat was in charge. This has been ably highlighted by Foreign Minister Kim Howells MP in the Commons. The tragedy is that in some ways, this misuse of aid is even worse. Is it better that development aid is spent on Mercedes for the ruling elite than rearing the next generation of suicide bombers? So far the Government have given a weak response to this report. Let us hope that some serious action will be taken.
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