Joint Arab List leader Ayman Odeh has allegedly received payments from a senior Palestinian official, Channel 20, Israeli cable television's right-wing heritage channel, reported on Sunday.
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The incident in question reportedly took place when Odeh visited Paris, France, in March 2018, to attend a conference organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.
While in the French capital, Odeh – then head of the Hadash party – took a meeting Ramzi Khuri, a senior Palestinian Authority official and the former bureau chief from late PLO chairman Yasser Arafat. He currently serves as the PA's senior treasurer.
The report said that the two met at a luxury Parisian restaurant, alleging that during the meeting, Khuri gave Odeh a cash envelope believed to contain about $20,000.
Khuri later told associates that the funds were a "campaign donation" for Hadash.
A source privy to the meeting in Paris told Channel 20 that "Khuri funds various expenses MK Odeh has as the head of an Arab party. … The funds were given to Odeh with the knowledge and approval of Abu Mazen," the source added, using the name by which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas commonly goes in Arab circles.
"Abu Mazen saw Odeh as having the power to change the political map. The funds are meant to cover Odeh's personal expenses ahead of the elections in Israel."
Officials in Ramallah and Hadash were unfazed by the report, telling the channel that it was "standard practice" for the PA to make donations to political parties and organizations.
"This is just like when political parties and Jewish organizations receive donations from the US or other countries abroad," a Palestinian official said. "As long as we're talking about a legitimate organization – and the Palestine Liberation Organization is a legitimate organization – this action is legal in Israel and the United States."
Odeh declined to comment on the report.
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