http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=world_home&articleID=2176616 Monday, Feb 20, 2006
Muslim Brotherhood plans worldwide campaign to finance Hamas-led government CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood, two allies of Hamas, called for Muslims on Monday to give money to a government headed by the Palestinian radical group, trying to build a new source of financing even as the United States stepped up its campaign to stop the flow of cash. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice started a Middle East tour, taking her to regional powerhouses Saudi Arabia and Egypt, to caution them against funding any Palestinian government headed by Hamas, which the United States and Europe consider a terror group. The U.S. and Europe, the world's two largest donors to the Palestinians, said they will not provide funding directly to any Hamas-led government, and Israel has already halted transfers of tax and customs duties, another main source of money for the Palestinian Authority, which governs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Arab governments have said funding should continue - but it is unclear whether they will be able to fill the void in the foreign aid that has provided the bulk of the Palestinians' $1.9 billion annual budget. Arab League foreign ministers met Monday in Algiers in an attempt to revive a funding plan they originally agreed on in 2002 that would provide the Palestinian Authority with some $50 million a month. Arab countries have consistently failed to meet those pledges since 2002, whether because of lack of funds or political differences with the Palestinians. "Cutting the aid is very serious issue. It is an attempt to starve the Palestinians and a recipe for chaos," Mohammed Sobeih, the deputy of league Secretary General Amr Moussa, told The Associated Press. Two of Hamas' strongest allies tried Monday to rally support. "Annual financial assistance to Palestine is one way that Muslim nations can share the responsibility of Palestine," Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in talks with Hamas' political chief Khaled Mashaal. Mashaal was leading a delegation of Hamas officials on a three-day visit to Iran - a leading backer of the group - in the latest stop of their tour of the region aimed at ensuring financial and political support. The Muslim Brotherhood - the region's largest fundamentalist political movement, with branches and affiliated groups in 86 countries - announced its own private funding drive. "We will appeal to each and every Muslim to help the Palestinians in the face of this unjust and fierce campaign (against Hamas)," the Brotherhood's supreme leader, Mohammed Mahdi Akef, told AP in Cairo. The group will ask its supporters to donate one quarter of their income to support Hamas, Brotherhood official Mohammed Hilal told the Cairo-based Al-Masry Al-Yawm newspaper. The Muslim Brotherhood has wealthy private backers, and the group has close ties to Hamas, which originally grew out of the Egypt-based Brotherhood. But the large amounts the Palestinian Authority needs will likely have to come from governments. The Organization of the Islamic Conference, a 57-member grouping of Muslim countries, plans to provide institutional and financial aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Monday. The Arab League is not expected to make a final decision on promises of funds until a summit next month in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. So far, Arab nations have fallen far short in their promises. Since 2003, they gave $761 million - only 30 per cent of the promised amount over that period, according to Sobeih. -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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