Bassma Eid is a rare individual. He is passionate about the rights of Palestinians.

And for Bassam that means that ordinary Palestinians have been mistreated by both Israelis and by their own brothers. His Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group has never been welcomed by the authorities in Ramallah. 

I first caught up with Bassam around 5 years ago. He had recently been released from a hellish period in a Palestinian prison, incarcerated for openly criticising Chairman Arafat. Clearly the torture did not dull his appetite for campaigning, as he demands that a true peace in the Middle East will only be made between democracies. Here the Palestinians are in deficit.

Bassam’s latest campaign centres around the continued corruption in the Palestinian Authority (PA). He openly questions why so much money is needed for salaries on behalf of people, who do not seem to exist.

This is not an isolated cry for help. Back in April 2009, AMAN, (the Palestinian Coalition for Accountability and Integrity) found that “corruption is still rampant in Palestinian society. Despite some positive reforms in the area of public fund management, there is still a general weakness in the system of combating corruption”.

Aman commissioner Azmi Shueibi said the Palestinian public in general believes that corruption increased in 2008.

Say no more……..to Obama and the EU who are still donating a billion dollars of taxpayers’ money to the PA and affiliated public bodies.