** ** Strangling Hamas****
With Middle East peace talks coming and the Muslim Brotherhood on the rocks, **** now's the time to bankrupt Gaza's Islamists.**** BY JONATHAN SCHANZER | JULY 22, 2013**** http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/07/22/strangling_hamas_palestine_gaza_islamists?page=full **** ** ** **** ** ** After six trips to the Middle East and tireless shuttle diplomacy, Secretary **** of State John Kerry somehow convinced the Palestine Liberation Organization* *** (PLO) and Israel last week to agree upon "a basis" to hold peace talks.**** Kerry has a long road ahead if he is to bridge the gap between the two**** sides. He may not know it yet, but he has a secret weapon. He can help**** cripple Hamas.**** ** ** The PLO and the Israelis cannot agree on much, but their hatred for Hamas is **** mutual. And the United States can leverage this by attacking the violent**** Islamist faction while it is at the most vulnerable point it has been in**** years.**** ** ** The downfall of the Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt earlier this**** month has been widely described as a blow to Hamas and its de facto**** government in the Gaza Strip. But the real damage has been to the Islamist** ** group's pocketbook. The Egyptian Army's ongoing operations against the**** subterranean tunnels connecting Egypt to the Gaza Strip, which have long**** served as key arteries for bulk cash smuggling, are wreaking havoc on**** Hamas's finances. One senior Israeli security official told me that, in the* *** current environment, an additional reduction of 20 to 30 percent in Hamas'** ** revenues could "destroy" the movement.**** ** ** Hamas's budget for running the Gaza Strip, which it violently took over in** ** 2007, is estimated to be $890 million this year (Hamas doesn't submit to an* *** outside audit, so consider this a ballpark figure). Until last year, the**** faction relied heavily on Iran and Syria for a great deal of its cash, but** ** the civil war in Syria prompted Hamas to loosen its ties to the "Axis of**** Resistance." Funding from Tehran has dropped off precipitously since then,** ** forcing the faction to turn to the Muslim Brotherhood bloc to make ends**** meet.**** ** ** Qatar pledged $400 million to the group last year, when the emir visited**** Gaza. Turkey is believed to provide additional support -- as much as $300*** * million, according to some estimates. However, it is unclear how much of**** these funds are earmarked for the Hamas government bureaucracy, and how much **** is slated for the building of mosques, hospitals, and other Gaza Strip**** infrastructure that has been badly damaged during skirmishes with Israel**** over the years. It is also unclear how much of this is funneled to Hamas'*** * military arm, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. **** ** ** In addition to these funds, a whopping $1.4 billion per year reportedly**** flows from the Palestinian Authority (PA) to Gaza. Hamas and the Fatah**** movement fought a bloody civil war in 2007, but that has not stopped the PA* *** from earmarking these funds for the people of Gaza, whom they still purport* *** to rule. The PA has been careful not to provide any funds directly to Hamas, **** for fear of invoking the ire of Congress. These funds primarily pay the**** salaries of "civil servants" who lost their jobs after Hamas overran the**** Gaza Strip. In essence, the PA pays these former bureaucrats not to work for **** Hamas. The PA also directly subsidizes Gaza's electricity production and**** reportedly underwrites other municipal services. Nevertheless, it is a fair* *** assumption that Hamas, which rules Gaza with an iron fist, pockets a portion **** of the PA funds anyway.**** ** ** Hamas has also augmented its income over the past decade by taxing goods**** that come through the tunnels connecting the Gaza Strip to Egypt. The**** tunnels were first created as a means to smuggle weapons to the coastal**** enclave, but after Hamas conquered Gaza, prompting Israel to impose a**** blockade, the tunnels became a key artery for a wide range of goods**** necessary to keep the economy running. Hamas, as Gaza's de facto rulers,**** reportedly took in at least $365 million a year from the tunnel trade. **** ** ** But none of this matters much when Egypt's junta is engaged in a relentless* *** effort to shut down the tunnels. Specifically, the crackdown has made bulk** ** cash smuggling -- the key to Hamas's financial independence -- exceedingly** ** difficult.**** ** ** The reversal of fortune for Hamas is remarkable. During Egyptian President** ** Mohamed Morsy's year in office, Egypt was a key Hamas base of operations.*** * Senior Hamas figure Mousa Abu Marzouk was based in Cairo, and Hamas even**** held a round of internal elections in the Egyptian capital. In addition, it* *** is widely believed that elements of the Brotherhood's financial network were **** bankrolling Hamas, even as Egypt's economy cratered.**** ** ** These activities did not please the Egyptian military -- and for good**** reason. Last year, Gaza-based fighters attacked an Egyptian military outpost **** near the border with the Gaza Strip, killing 16 soldiers. Mounting concern** ** that Hamas members might be sneaking in to Egypt with dangerous weapons led* *** to a crackdown on the tunnels.**** ** ** Since Morsy's ouster, the military has been unleashed: It has arrested at*** * least 29 Brotherhood financiers, including at least one significant**** contributor to Hamas's coffers, according to a senior Israeli security**** official. It has also reportedly deployed 30,000 troops to the Sinai and**** purportedly destroyed roughly 800 of the 1,000 tunnels connecting Egypt to** ** Gaza. Ala al-Rafati, the Hamas economy minister, recently told Reuters that* *** these operations cost Hamas $230 million -- about a tenth of Gaza's GDP.**** ** ** All of this presents U.S. Secretary of State Kerry with a rare opportunity** ** to try to hasten the group's financial demise. And it is in his interest to* *** do so. The group, after all, carried out suicide bombings against Israeli** ** civilian targets in the 1990s to torpedo the peace process. It's a fair bet* *** that Hamas will launch a new campaign of violence now that talks are ramping **** back up.**** ** ** What can Washington do, exactly?**** ** ** For one, Congress and the administration could stop wringing its hands over* *** whether the toppling of Morsy was a coup and instead openly encourage**** continued operations against the tunnels (while also holding the army to**** account as it navigates complicated transition). Congress, which dishes out* *** some $500 million per year to the Palestinians, could also quietly work with **** the Palestinian Authority to scale back the funds that flow to Gaza.**** ** ** >From there, the United States could attempt to use whatever leverage it has* *** to convince both Turkey and Qatar to cut back on their funding of Hamas.**** Admittedly, Washington doesn't have much pull in Ankara and Doha these days* *** -- they have more sway with us -- but Congress could pull strings to speed** ** up delivery of or withhold the advanced weapons systems that both countries* *** are eagerly awaiting, depending upon how the conversation goes. Turkey, for* *** example, is expecting Sidewinder missiles and Chinook helicopters, and it*** * would like to purchase Predator and Reaper drones. Qatar, for its part, is** ** expecting delivery of Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM)**** Systems, and 500 Javelin-Guided Missiles.**** ** ** Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a strident proponent of Hamas** ** on the world stage, is unlikely to be swayed. Erdogan insists that Hamas**** must be part of the political equation when negotiating peace with Israel.** ** Qatar, however, presents possibilities. The former emir, Sheikh Hamad bin*** * Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani, recently abdicated the throne for his son, Tamim. **** The new emir is still learning his way on the world stage, and it is**** possible, some analysts suggest, that he could be persuaded to adopt new**** policies that promote moderation in the Middle East.**** ** ** While the math is fuzzy, one thing is clear -- the Egyptian army's tunnel*** * operations are slowly strangling Hamas. If one or more of the Islamist**** movement's other funders cut back their aid even a little, its financial**** crisis will only deepen. The more acute the crisis, the more Gazans will**** grow frustrated with their Islamist rulers. A Muslim Brotherhood government* *** just fell unexpectedly in Cairo -- if Hamas doesn't watch its back, it could **** happen again in Gaza.**** ** ** For John Kerry and his tenuous peace initiative, this is a window of**** opportunity that should not be ignored.**** ** ** ==========================================**** (F)AIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this **** message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. All rights to* *** these copyrighted items are reserved. 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