A Meeting Organized in Ramallah to Discuss Palestine’s Rank on the CPI

corruption exists in Palestine, but it should not be exaggerated

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13/01/2007

  AMAN Coalition in cooperation with one of the Coalition members, the Arab Thought Forum, had organized a round table discussion in Ramallah on ….The meeting aimed at discussing Palestine’s rank in the Corruption Perception Index CPI produced by Transparency International TI in which Palestine ranked low in the last three years. 

Dr. Abed Al-Rahman abu Arafeh, DG of the Arab Thought Forum, opened the session by presenting the different ranks occupied by different countries in the CPI stressing that the aim of the discussion is to look into ways in which Palestine would be fairly ranked in this index. He pointed that Palestine was omitted from the CPI conducted in 2006 following a request submitted by AMAN Coalition to TI. He elaborated that TI follows a set of standards in producing the annual CPI that depend on opinion surveys conducted by different institutions inside different countries in addition to views expressed by economic experts, business personnel, media professionals, and others.

 Dr. Azmi Shuaibi, General Coordinator AMAN Coalition, explained the methodology followed by TI in producing the annual CPI as well as the pre conditions set for any country to be ranked there. He stated that AMAN Coalition had worked on omitting Palestine from the 2006 CPI , not to avoid having Palestine at the bottom of the list but rather as an attempt towards evaluating this tool and its applicability to the special case of Palestine in terms of the level of accuracy of measurements followed in producing it. He stressed that a survey based on perceptions doesn’t apply for third world countries including the Arab World. This intensifies the need for regionalizing indicators and setting Arab standards in order to adapt such index to the Arab context. Unfortunately, a joint regional effort towards that goal had failed mostly due to political reasons.  

Dr. Shuaibi warned that although corruption exists in Palestine, it should not be exaggerated. Continuous efforts should be exerted towards combating corruption. A comprehensive strategy for combating corruption should start by identifying its causes, victims, beneficiaries, and should lay down the best mechanisms for combating it.

Participants spoke of the negative role played by the Israeli and some western governments in painting a vague picture of corruption in Palestine. Moreover, they related corruption in Palestine to the tribal nature of society. They also warned of the indicators used by TI in drawing conclusions in the PCI; basically, the fact that these indicators depend on the economic situation and the level of investment as well as the perceptions of businesspersons and investors which is not encouraging and will express negative perceptions taking into account the poor economic and political conditions in Palestine.