'Corruption and squabbling affecting liberation struggle'

Doha: Corruption and squabbling among Palestinian officials are jeopardising the liberation fight, according to participants and spectators of the latest Doha Debate, a televised series hosted by Qatar Foundation.

Guests at the show discussed whether "Palestinians risk becoming their own worst enemy", a motion supported by more than 70 per cent of the audience attending the event to be broadcast on BBC World on Saturday.

Doha Debate chairman Tim Sebastian moderated the contest between Palestinian Ambassador to France Hind Khoury and author Saree Makdisi, who spoke against the motion, and Professor Munter Dajani, Al Quds University, and Akram Baker, an independent political analyst, who supported the motion.

Baker the said Palestinian National Authority (PNA) squandered financial aid and failed to keep the Palestinian people cohesive regardless of the occupation.

"They failed to transform into an official Government, descending into a spiral of nepotism and corruption. In Palestine I personally witnessed the destruction of the institutions from the outside by Israel and from the inside by the corrupted PNA," he denounced.