http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/705520.html
Last update - 14:15 13/04/2006
Hamas launches fundraising drive on Web sites, TV stations
By Haaretz Service and the Associated Press
The new Hamas government, cash-strapped and increasingly isolated, has
turned to ordinary people for financial help, launching a fundraising drive on
Web sites and Arab satellite TV stations, a spokesman said Thursday.
The appeal, which is sponsored by the Arab League, comes at a time when
the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority is not only being shunned by the West, but
Hamas leaders are also getting the cold shoulder in some Arab capitals.
Arab governments have been reluctant to make good on pledges of financial
aid to the Palestinian Authority, apparently in part because they see Hamas as
part of a global Islamic movement that is challenging autocratic Arab regimes.
In addition, some Arab countries are reluctant to cross the United States.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar of Hamas was to embark on a
fundraising tour of five Arab nations on Friday, but was expected to be snubbed
by officials in at least two countries, Jordan and Egypt. Nevertheless, Israel
Radio reported on Thursday that Zahar said he would travel to Egypt on
Saturday. Other stops include Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait.
Hamas has acknowledged that it is broke and will have trouble paying the
salaries of 140,000 government workers -payments that sustain one-third of the
Palestinians. The March paychecks are two weeks overdue, and the Palestinian
finance minister has said he is still tens of millions of dollars short of
covering the payroll.
On Wednesday, Hamas launched a fundraising drive with the backing of the
Arab League, an umbrella group that has no significant budget of its own. In
appeals on TV stations and Web sites, donors were asked to send money to an
account at the Arab Bank in Cairo.
The Hamas Web site on Thursday published a "public appeal to support the
steadfastness of our Palestinian brothers and to foil the Zionist plans aimed
at forcing them to give up their legitimate national rights."
Israel, the United States and the European Union have said they would
withhold millions of dollars in payments to the PA. Hamas initially said it
would make up the shortfall by appealing to the Arab and Muslim world. But Arab
states have so far failed to back up their rhetorical solidarity with the
Palestinians with money.
Al Jazeera: Hamas willing to recognize Israel
The Al Jazeera Website on Thursday reported that the Hamas-led
Palestinian government is willing to recognize Israel if it withdraws from
territories it occupied in 1967.
The site quoted sources close to Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh saying
that the Hamas decision was a "significant change in policy".
"What it means is that the Palestinian government is willing to recognize
Israel if Israel met certain conditions, including a complete withdrawal from
the territories Israel occupied in 1967," Al Jazeera.net quoted one of the
sources as saying.
According to the source, Haniyeh was expected to official announce the
decision in a few days.
The Hamas-led government is coming under intense international pressure
to recognize Israel, abandon armed resistance and accept outstanding agreements
between the PA and Israel.
If true, the new development will constitute a significant departure from
Hamas' dogged refusal to accept Israel's right to exist.
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