Reign of Terror? West Funding PA Torture, Murder

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is pressing the United Nations to create a Palestinian state in Israel's biblical heartland. While some see him as the best partner for peace, Palestinian insiders say his regime is riddled with corruption paid for by Western tax dollars.

Abbas has led the fight for Palestinians since the 2004 death of PLO chairman Yasser Arafat. In addition to leaving a leadership opening, Arafat left behind secret bank accounts filled with a billion or more in public funds and international aid taken from his own people.

As Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, took over, Palestinians hoped for a change.

"When Abu Mazen came to power, he spoke about reforming the security services and the judiciary. It means that he recognized there is corruption," said "Ahmed," a resident of P.A.-controlled city in the West Bank. CBN News hid his identity to protect his life.

"But what happened [was] that they created ways to cover up corruption when complaints were made," he said.

More than 2 million people live in the West Bank (biblical Judea and Samaria) under Palestinian Authority rule. And while the world blames Israel for oppressing Palestinians, some say the Palestinians themselves are most often the oppressors of their own people.

"Most of the Palestinians know about the corruption. But the normal citizens are afraid because … they know that they cannot do anything, and they and their families and children could be subjected to dangers and sexual abuse. They know that the [Palestinian] Authority is a terrorist authority. So they are afraid of it," Ahmed explained.

Ahmed gave CBN News examples from inside the West Bank. He said authorities lie about people, saying they're dealing drugs, collaborating with Israel, or acting immorally if they have a personal vendetta against someone.

"I know another case when somebody asked a man from [the P.A.'s] Fatah [faction] to give him his pay, but he refused... After that, a group came after midnight, entered his home, and killed him, and they abused his family and threw him from the window, and beat his children very badly... When people intervened, they issued a statement saying this man was an agent of Israel," Ahmed said.

Human rights attorney Calev Myers said he's concerned both about Israel and also for Palestinians living under Abbas.

"If somebody in the Palestinian Authority was to stand in the public square and criticize Mahmoud Abbas… they'll be arrested, many times tortured and sometimes just disappear…There's a huge fear factor," Myers told CBN News.

To make things worse, this corruption and oppression is financially supported by taxpayers in the West.

According to a 2014 congressional report, the U.S. government has committed more than $5 billion to the Palestinian Authority since the mid-1990s. Yet the average Palestinian is still living in abject poverty.

In a video interview, obtained courtesy of Palestinian Media Watch, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas indicates where the money may have gone.

"Since [Hamas'] coup against the P.A. [in 2007] and until today, we've been transferring more than 50 percent of our [P.A.] budget to Gaza, including salaries to 60,000 to 70,000 [P.A.] civil servants who aren't working," Abbas says in the video.

"They are [in Gaza] and are receiving salaries. We pay them because they stopped working, and so Hamas appointed other people in their place," he added.

The video clip is part of a soon-to-be-released report from PMW on finances in the P.A. The report quotes the Palestinian paper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, saying the average monthly salary for a P.A. civil servant as of 2011 is $795 per month.

According to those figures, those "60,000 P.A. workers receive $47 million a month -- not to work," PMW said.

Myers said the Palestinians are always pleading, "'We need this money in order to do things, to create industry, to build roads, to create jobs.' Well why is that not happening?"

"So it's not just where the money is going, but it's where it's not going to that I think the West needs to get on top of," Myers added.

While Abbas is blasting Israel and pushing hard for recognition of an independent state, some are saying it would only be a disaster.