http://www.nationalreview.com/preview/preview.asp
And a Thief, Too
By Rachel Ehrenfeld (July 29 NR)

The first public evidence that the PLO had at least $10 billion came to light when the Pakistani-owned rogue Bank of Credit and Commerce International was shut down by the Bank of England on July 5, 1991. In 1993, Britain's National Criminal Intelligence Service called the PLO "the richest of all terrorist organizations." NCIS estimated the PLO's ill-gotten gains at $8-10 billion and reported that it enjoyed a further annual income of about $1.5-2 billion from "donations, extortion, payoffs, illegal arms dealing, drug trafficking, money laundering, fraud, etc." When $326 million disappeared from PA coffers in 1996, an investigation by the Palestinian Legislative Council found that nearly 40 percent of the PA's $800 million annual budget (coming mostly from foreign aid) had been lost through corruption and mismanagement. The PA's comptroller wrote: "The overall picture is one of a Mafia-style government, where the main point of being in public office is to get rich quick."