http://www.jordantimes.com/tue/news/news2.htm
Arab, Muslim funding?
By Lara Sukhtian
The Associated Press
DUBAI With the United States and Europe threatening to cut funding
to a Hamas-led Palestinian government, the Islamic group says it will
turn to the Arab and Muslim world to finance day-to-day expenses.
The question is, though, will the potential benefactors pay up? Money
is quickly turning into a powerful and effective bargaining tool for
Western, and Arab, nations who want to see Hamas assume a more
moderate political agenda.
But as donors wait to see how Hamas will react after its startling
parliamentary victory, concerns mount that the region could dip
further into chaos if countries like Iran step in to pay the
Palestinians' bills.
Government officials in the oil-rich countries of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait
and Qatar, the most likely donors, are staying clear of the subject
for now, refusing to discuss the issue despite repeated contacts from
the Associated Press.
Analysts say that although most wealthy Gulf nations and even Europe
and the United States will not stand by and watch the Palestinians
starve, the Arab and Muslim world was not likely to provide the kind
of cash Western nations were giving the Palestinians before Hamas won
74 out of 132 seats in parliament last week.
"Arab countries are committed to continue their assistance to the
Palestinians according to the Arab summit resolutions until they will
be able to set up their own independent state," said Mohammad Sobeih,
deputy secretary general of the Arab League.
Arab countries are committed to giving $55 million a month to the
Palestinian Authority, but Sobeih said many Arab governments have been
reluctant to pay their share for a variety of reasons.
"Money is going to be the weapon and a very effective one," said Gulf
analyst Mustafa Allani of the Gulf Strategic Studies Centre. "If Hamas
wants to deliver basic requirements for the Palestinians, basic
services, they're going to need money, and if this is going to be the
point of pressure, I think Hamas is going to have to consider a major
shift in political ideology." Already, Hamas is showing small signs of
softening. At a Monday news conference, the group asked the
international community to keep the aid flowing, promising not to use
the money for violent activities.
"We call on you to transfer all aid to the Palestinian treasury,"
Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader in Gaza, told the news conference. "We
assure you that all the revenues will be spent on salaries, daily life
and infrastructure." And in an interview with CNN's "Late Edition"
Sunday, Hamas lawmaker and prominent leader Mahmoud Zahar sidestepped
a question about the group's willingness to recognise Israel.
"It's not a matter of rejection [of Israel's existence].
Israel is here, present by power," Zahar said.
But the rhetoric continues, and so do the threats, and now Hamas is
eyeing the Arab and Muslim world for financial support, though it's
seeming less and less likely that fellow Arabs will meet any shortfall.
Many Arab countries including Saudi Arabia which the Palestinians'
largest Arab donor do not have diplomatic ties with Israel, but most
have tacitly accepted a two-state solution for bringing peace to the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Supporting a Hamas-led government that calls for the destruction of
Israel and advocates violence as a solution to the decades long
conflict would be seen as political suicide by the wealthy Arab
nations, who enjoy strong backing from the United States.
"When you give financial support under these circumstances, there is a
political price for it. You cannot divorce the two," said Gulf analyst
Allani. "All these Arab donor countries already committed a long time
ago to a two-state solution and I don't see that they are going to
support a government which rejects this principle." But even if the US
and Europe cut off all direct and indirect funding to the
Palestinians, the money won't entirely dry up.
No doubt, Islamic charities, private donors, and the non-governmental
organisations sympathetic to the Hamas agenda from around the world
will continue to send money to the Palestinians. Hamas has its fans in
the Muslim world and has survived since it was created 19 years ago
through donations that some believe have reached tens of millions of
dollars a year.
Iran is another possible benefactor. Already believed to fund the
Lebanese group Hizbollah, the Islamic republic congratulated Hamas on
its victory and appeared ready to chip in if the West cuts off aid.
"Iran will enter the scene and would help the new Palestinian
government," said Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, an adviser to the Middle
East Strategic Studies Centre in Tehran, an organisation closely
affiliated with the Iranian foreign ministry.
Ephraim Kam, deputy director of the Jaffee Centre for Strategic
Studies, a Tel Aviv think tank, says Iran could provide several
million dollars in extra aid, if the West turns off the taps. Such a
development would only increase Iran's popularity in the region.
But several million dollars is pocket change compared to what Hamas
needs to run the Palestinian Authority, a government with an annual
operating budget of about $1.6 billion.
Today, nearly two-thirds comes from international donors mostly from
Europe, international donor agencies, the United States and Asian
governments.
The Group of eight industrialised nations promised an additional $9
billion last summer, most of it as private investments over the next
three years.
The Hamas victory puts all that at risk.
The US, Europe and Israel list Hamas as a terrorist organisation and
all three are threatening to cut funding.
Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that after Hamas
sets up a government, Israel will stop transferring tens of millions
of dollars a month to the Palestinians in customs and taxes it
collects on their behalf.
On Monday, both the US and EU made it clear that they will only deal
with a Hamas government that has denounced violence and recognised
Israel's right to exist.
If the West cuts off funds and the Arab governments don't give it, the
Palestinian territories will slip further into poverty and
desperation, an option analysts say no one is willing to risk.
"The West doesn't want to give money to Hamas, but it doesn't want the
PA to collapse either, [knowing] the deepened human misery that would
bring," said Kam, the Israeli analyst. "They could find a third way. I
expect aid to decrease, but I imagine some will continue, because no
one in the West will want to see the PA collapse."
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
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