Research shows that the average PA resident enjoyed greater
prosperity prior to the establishment of the PA, when they
were under Israeli administration. The leadership and those
close to them live well, but the average Palestinian is much
worse off.
According to surveys by the research center of the Israeli
Yad Tabenkin, the Judea & Samaria (West Bank) per capita
gross domestic product (GDP) before the Oslo accord in 1993
was approximately $3,500, compared to $1,300 today.
Similar figures reflect the condition in PA Gaza, with a
1993 per capita GDP of $2,800 as compared to around $1,300
today. According to United Nations Middle East envoy Terje
Larsen, almost one-third of the PA population lives on less
than $2.10 daily.
According to Rachel Ehrenfeld, the director of the New York-
based Center for the Study of Corruption and the Rule of
Law, prior to Arafat entering the picture in May 1994, the
Palestinian per capita GDP in the West Bank was about 40
percent of the $8,000 Israeli per capita GDP for the same
period, and in the 1990s, the economic development of the
West Bank exceeded that of Israel.
According to official CIA estimates in 1990, the PA had
between $8 billion to $14 billion worth of assets generated
from five percent tax on every Palestinian working in Arab
countries.
However, according to a 1993 British National Criminal
Intelligence Service report published on the eve of the Oslo
signing ceremony on the White House lawn, most of the PLO's
assets originated from "donations, extortion, payoffs,
illegal arms dealing, drug trafficking, money laundering,
fraud, etc."
A General Accounting Office investigation of Arafat in
November 1995 was kept secret, due to "national security
interest."
Since the signing of Oslo, Arafat has received at least an
additional $3 billion from the international community,
additional funds that have disappeared without a
reckoning.
Studies have revealed the situation in the PA as a bleak one
with a steady increase in the disparity between the average
PA citizen, whose standard of living continues to
deteriorate, and aides and persons close to Arafat, who
drive late-model luxury sedans and enjoy the finest
amenities the PA has to offer.
