A Very Good Bit Of News From the ME

[Annie]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060227/wl_mideast_afp/gulfmideastislam

Gulf charities walk tightrope on aid to Hamas

Mon Feb 27, 4:34 AM ET

Gulf charities say they will stick to official channels in offering any aid to the Palestinian militant group Hamas to avoid charges of bankrolling terror which have haunted them since September 11.

"Charitable organizations are already in the dock, and we don't want to compound suspicions", said Ali al-Swaidi, who heads the Qatari charity Eid.

Swaidi was speaking on the sidelines of a two-day conference of Gulf charities in the Qatari capital Doha last week.

Mohammad al-Dhubian of the Saudi "Mecca" charity was more explicit.

"If our rulers allow us to collect funds for Hamas, we will do so. If not, we will refrain," he told AFP.

But Dhubian predicted that "Arab governments will help Hamas, thus opening the door to charities to follow suit" as the group forms a new Palestinian government after its landslide victory in parliamentary elections last month.

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, Washington has accused Islamic charities of helping fund terrorist groups, forcing Gulf governments to place them under tighter scrutiny.

The United States is leading a campaign to deprive Hamas of the foreign aid hitherto provided to the Palestinian Authority in a bid to isolate the group, which is branded a "terrorist" organization by the European Union as well as Israel and the United States.

But US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with refusal to isolate Hamas from key allies Egypt and Saudi Arabia during a regional tour last week.

Her Saudi counterpart, Prince Saud al-Faisal, warned that Riyadh would continue to back the Palestinian Authority financially, even after an eventual Hamas-led government takes power.

"We do not want to link international aid to the Palestinian people with considerations other than their terrible humanitarian needs," Saud said.

While most participants in the Doha conference agreed that charities should stay out of politics, Bahraini MP Adel al-Maawdah deplored the West's attempts to isolate Hamas, "which won power through democratic means".

"The people will... find a way of helping Hamas despite the restrictions," he said, referring to the estimated 500 million dollars raised by Gulf charities each year, according to unofficial estimates.

Ahmad al-Falah of the Kuwaiti Social Reform Society said charities were not in the business of aiding political groups.

"Their activities are confined to helping needy families and orphans and (boosting) the infrastructure of society," he said.

Falah said regional charities might increase their aid to the Palestinians to counter Western curbs, but "the assistance will be for the Palestinian Authority, not necessarily for Hamas."

Swaidi of the Qatari Eid organization said charities act along "purely humanitarian lines, and an increase of aid would depend on the assessment they receive from their delegates" in the Palestinian territories.

Other non-governmental organizations said they were determined to ensure that aid reaches the Palestinians.

"We're examining alternatives to continue helping families affected by the (US) decision," which is directed "against needy Palestinians," said Mohammad Ghaith Solh, executive director of KindHearts, the latest Arab NGO to fall foul of US authorities.

The US Treasury Department announced last week it had frozen the assets of KindHearts, a Palestinian humanitarian organization, over suspected links to Hamas.