RE: WHY CAN'T PITA DO MORE ??? RE: There is hope..., Al-Quds news paper 26/4/01

["Sam Bahour" <sbahour@palnet.com>]

Mashhour, Tareq and all,

If I may weigh in (God forbid) on this issue;-)

I agree with Tareq of the critical nature of this issue and I also agree with 
Mashhour that we cannot play the role of the judge and jury...given our legal 
system is just as demobilized as every other infrastructure institution in the 
country, I am not holding my breath for justice to be served.

In the meantime, I suggest that we adopt Tareq's approach of making a wider 
inquiry in hopes of gaining insight/awareness to what has/is happening but 
we should not rush to put PITA in the role of the judicial system.

Maybe Tareq or someone can volunteer to articulate the issue of Palestine 
being "labelled" and multinational firms "potentially contributing" to the mess 
we are in via a solid op-ed to the local media ... at the end of the day we can 
only educate and pick our business partners.

...just like in economics, if there was no demand for corrupt practices supply 
would not be so abundant.

Regards,
Sam



On 6 May 2001,, Tareq Maayah wrote:

> Mashhour, let us be clear, we all know what we are talking about. And I
> mean it. We need to ask HP to give us an explanation. The issue is more
> important than names. The issue is about PITA.
> Tareq
>  -----Original Message-----
>  From:	PITA [SMTP:abudaka@pita-palestine.org]
>  Sent:	Sunday, May 06, 2001 1:35 PM
>  To:	Tareq Maayah; Members of PITA
>  Subject:	RE: WHY CAN'T PITA DO MORE ??? RE: There is
> hope..., Al-Quds news paper 26/4/01
> 
>  Tareq,
>  I am in agreement with the tone of your msg but very
> disappointed to see you
>  mentioning names. If we want to be a respectable country surely
> we cannot
>  start pointing finger until there is a formal indictment and a
> verdict,
>  which is not available in this case. I am sure you will not be
> happy if
>  someone, God forbid, starts dragging you company name in some
> un-acceptable
>  financial deals! All what we have here are rumors and counter
> rumors
>  PITA has asked for details and we hope will we will get these
> details. Also
>  we can ask for transparent and procurement procedure.
> 
>  Let us think how to deal with this matter definitely the PNA has
> a lot to
>  answer on this subject.
>  Regards
> 
>  Mashhour Abudaka
> 
>  -----Original Message-----
>  From: Tareq Maayah [mailto:tareq.maayah@ict.siemens.com]
>  Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2001 12:48 PM
>  To: 'abudaka@pita-palestine.org'; Members of PITA
>  Subject: WHY CAN'T PITA DO MORE ??? RE: There is hope...,
> Al-Quds news paper
>  26/4/01
> 
>  Hi Mahhour,
>  I am just wondering why nothing else can be done at this time.
> HP is a
>  member of PITA and should immediately be asked to provide an
>  explanation.
>  This is a real test for PITA. Is PITA going to act when needed
> against
>  practices that hinder the development of the sector. OR is PITA
> going to
>  be another 3rd world country organization that provides lip
> services
>  only while its members (HP and others) are working against the
> benefits
>  of the sector which they claim they would like to develop for
> their own
>  good.
>  I  warn, that if this issue goes unchecked then all other
> international
>  companies will refrain from even looking at Palestine as we will
> all be
>  "labeled".
>  Please remember that this issue comes about when all donor
> countries
>  (and even Arab countries) are restricting their help to us on
> the basis
>  that we are corrupt. This case shows that international
> companies are
>  adding to the corruption. I propose that we send an urgent
> message to
>  the American consulate (commercial section) and inform them of
> the issue
>  and ask them to provide clear directions to American companies
> to work
>  in Palestine in accordance to a clear code of business ethics.
> We should
>  also forward this letter to all other international and Arab
> commercial
>  sections in Palestine.  BUT most importantly, HP as a member
> should be
>  asked to clear its position or be expelled from PITA in a way
> that
>  clears our reputation. What would be the position of Paltel,
> which we
>  all fight its monopoly ( as an impediment to the development of
> the
>  sector)?  If they see a member of PITA engaged in such
> practices? DO we
>  owe Patel an apology?
> 
>  Guys, we need to act fast.
> 
>  The above is only a personal opinion.
> 
>  Tareq
> 
> 
>          -----Original Message-----
>          From:   PITA [SMTP:abudaka@pita-palestine.org]
>          Sent:   Sunday, May 06, 2001 9:49 AM
>          To:     Members of PITA
>          Subject:        FW: There is hope..., Al-Quds news paper
> 26/4/01
> 
>          Dear members,
>          To keep you informed, PITA has sent a letter to Minister
> Abu
>  Medain in
>          connection to this article, PITA offered its support to
> the
>  minister and in
>          this letter PITA asked for further information regarding
> the
>  case.
>          Obviously, as a responsible organization we could do
> nothing
>  further in this
>          regards except to request the governmental departments
> to have
>  clear and
>          transparent procurement procedures. As soon as we get
> the
>  minister reply I
>          will keep you informed.
> 
>          Meanwhile, if you have any question please do not
> hesitate to
>  directed to me
>          or simply send it to the board or you can send it to all
> members
>  at
>          members@pita-palestine.org advocacy is one of PITA major
>  strategic
>          interests, definitely PITA should not let this case die
> away.
> 
>          Regards
> 
>          Mashhour Abudaka
> 
>          -----Original Message-----
>          From: general-request@itsig.org
>  [mailto:general-request@itsig.org]On Behalf
>          Of Sam Bahour
>          Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2001 3:21 PM
>          To: general@itsig.org
>          Subject: There is hope...
> 
>          Read today, before tomorrow's edition is posted...
> 
>          http://www.alquds.com/today/front/news2.html
> 
> 



-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sam Bahour, Partner
Applied Information Management (AIM)
P.O. Box 2323, Ramallah
West Bank, Palestine
Tel. 970/2-(0)2-298-1566
Fax. 970/2-(0)2-298-1567
Cell.970/2-(0)59-378-278
E-mail: sbahour@palnet.com or
sbahour1998@alum.kellogg.northwestern.edu
http://www.aim-palestine.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Information and Communications Technology Research & Consulting
---------------------------------------------------------------------