When I Say "Shortfall" What Do You Think?

If I said "shortfall" to an average Israeli, he or she would probably think of one of those Qassam rockets not making it over the border and instead, dropping on an Arab.

Well, it means something else:-

The Palestinian Authority requires an estimated $100 million a month in external financing for recurrent budgetary expenditures, but since January, only an estimated $174 million has been transferred.

"Projected shortfalls in the Palestinian Authority’s budget could undermine its reform and State-building agenda. Member States are encouraged to commit funds they pledged, wherever possible through direct support to the Palestinian Authority," Mr Pascoe said.

Oh, well.


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Money, Money, Money

I was sent here to purview the 2009 Supplemental Appropriations for Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Pandemic Flu of the US Congress.

Some numbers relating to the Middle East:

• $3.6 billion, matching the request, to expand and improve capabilities of the Afghan security forces

• $400 million, as requested, to build the counterinsurgency capabilities of the Pakistani security forces

• Afghanistan: $1.52 billion, $86 million above the request

• West Bank and Gaza: $665 million in bilateral economic, humanitarian, and security assistance for the West Bank and Gaza

• Jordan: $250 million, $250 million above the request, including $100 million for economic and $150 million for security assistance

• Egypt: $360 million, $310 million above the request, including $50 million for economic assistance, $50 million for border security, and $260 million for security assistance

• Pakistan: $1.9 billion, $591 million above the request

• Iraq: $968 million, $336 million above the request

• Oversight: $20 million, $13 million above the request, to expand oversight capacity of the State Department, USAID, and the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan to review programs in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq

• Lebanon: $74 million

• Refugee Assistance: $343 million, $50 million above the request, …including humanitarian assistance for Gaza. Funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency programs in the West Bank and Gaza is limited to $119 million (Note: Gaza = Hamas)

• Disaster Assistance: $200 million to avert famines and provide life-saving assistance during natural disasters and for internally displaced people around the world, including Somalia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, the Middle East and South Asia.

That adds up to, er, 10 billion or more.

Oh, and Israel:

• Israel: $555 million of the $2.8 billion 2010 request for security assistance, $555 million above the supplemental request. (Note: that means Obama’s original request did not include any money for Israel in 2009)

(Kippah tip: Creeping Sharia via AtlasShrugs)