Channel 10 of Israeli TV ran a news item a few days ago claiming that the Hamas decision to close down a casino in Jericho signaled a heavy loss to the Israeli government.
The Jericho casino was a gambling den to which Jews from all parts of Palestine and foreign tourists used to make a beeline. The channel doubted that any amount of pressure would make Hamas review its decision because the Islamic law prohibited all forms of gambling. Quoting Martin Shayla, a Jewish businessman of Australian nationality, the channel estimated the loss caused by the closure of the casino at a billion shekels ($250 million) a year.
The Oslo accords signed between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in 1993 apparently prepared the ground for opening the casino. The license was issued for the religiously forbidden institution under a provision in the agreement that called for cooperation between the PA and Israel in investments. The casino was an old Zionist idea but could not be implemented earlier because Israeli authorities denied license to it fearing the ire of the rabbis and Jewish religious parties who did not want a Biblical taboo to be violated. In the wake of the signing of the Oslo agreement, the Zionist promoters, at last, got the long awaited opportunity to open the gambling house in Jericho, a town under the control of the Palestinian Authority who was responsible for granting a license to the facility.
In another development, the Palestinian attorney general shocked the world shortly before elections were held in Palestinian territories, with the revelation that a number of senior officials of the Palestinian Authority were involved in a corruption scam involving $700 million. He also indicated that this amount was only a fraction of the widespread corruption involving billions of dollars that his office was investigating. Though such charges were being revealed at a critical time, rumors of corruption used to be doing the rounds even during the time of Yasser Arafat.
It cannot be denied that corrupt practices involving such enormous sums could not have taken place without the knowledge and approval of the Zionist state, for in most cases the transactions were made through Israeli banks and financial institutions. The responsibility of the Fatah and Palestinian Authority with regards to an issue of this magnitude is enormous. No circumstance can exonerate them as such a practice affects the very foundation of a society struggling for survival under an occupying power determined to exterminate them. We should also remember that the PA was heavily dependent on foreign aid.
Other Arab states and the Arab League also have a responsibility in the matter, as the conduct of the PA was not unknown to them. They cannot escape their responsibility saying that it was against international norms to intervene in the internal affairs of another state. Values such as these have become a matter of the past thanks to the conduct of the Zionist state and its adoption by President Bush and his associates. After all, they have been dictating to Arabs and Muslims everything including the smallest detail of how their life should be run, how to treat their women, who they should give their charity to and what they should teach their kids.
Hamas not only has the huge task of reforming and reconstructing the Palestinian society but must also prepare for its continuous struggle with the occupying power. This cannot be accomplished without the generous support from Arabs who know where the money they give to the Palestinians goes and how it is spent.
