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12 Tishrei 5764 - October 8, 2003 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Hamas's Use of Charitable Societies to Fund and Support Terror
by Yated Neeman Staff

In Hamas's worldview, dawa ("preaching" or "calling") plays an important role in the organization's activities and is one of the more prominent means by which it realizes its immediate goals: inculcating Islam in the community, increasing public support for the organization and recruiting new members.

Hamas's dawa is, in effect, the movement's infrastructure. It includes a range of organizations that provide various services (welfare, education, health, etc.) to the population, either for a token price or absolutely free.

Charitable and social welfare activities are a significant part of Hamas's dawa activities, since giving to charity is a fundamental principle of Islam. These activities are carried out by a network of dozens of charitable societies and committees throughout Judea, Samaria and Gaza. While these organizations do provide services to the public at large, they grant preference to those close to the movement.

Hamas's charitable societies and committees in Judea, Samaria and Gaza also provide food and monetary assistance to the families of those who have been killed and wounded in the course of perpetrating acts of terror and who have been imprisoned for their involvement in acts of terror. Such families typically receive an initial, one-time grant of between $500-5,000, as well as a monthly allowance of approximately $100. The families of Hamas terrorists usually receive larger payments than those of non-Hamas terrorists.

These charitable societies and committees also provide the families with scholarships and educational subsidies. The dawa groups also provide financial assistance for the rebuilding of homes that have been demolished due to their owners' involvement in terror.

The movement's network of mosques and Islamic preachers serves as a platform for disseminating incitement against Israel, for encouraging suicide terrorism, and for recruiting terrorists.

Those injured also enjoy medical care and treatment -- either subsidized or free. Hamas also aids its members who are imprisoned either in Israel or the Palestinian Authority, as well as the imprisoned members' families. Released prisoners receive generous release grants.

Hamas's dawa network makes the perpetrating of violence, including suicide terrorism, something that provides economic security in the difficult economic situation in which the Palestinian population currently finds itself, and thus encourages the perpetrating of such acts of terrorism.

Hamas exploits the distressed economic situation by creating financial dependence and the continued flow of new recruits out of a sense of obligation. Moreover, funds designated for dawa have been diverted directly to terrorists in order to fund attacks.

Hamas's wide-ranging activities among the Palestinian population have led to its strengthening vis-a-vis the Palestinian Authority and have prevented the PA from acting against it, due to Hamas's support among the wider Palestinian public.

Hamas is thus, in effect, preparing itself as an alternative to the PA through its educational, social and medical infrastructure.

Most of the funds for dawa activities are raised outside Judea, Samaria and Gaza. These funds, some $25-30 million per annum, form the bulk of Hamas's budget. Pro-Hamas Islamic charitable societies in Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf emirates and in the West, transfer funds to Hamas's charitable societies and committees in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Among these pro-Hamas charitable societies are The World Congress for Islamic Youth and the World Islamic Organization from Saudi Arabia; Interpal, based in London (which transferred $6 million in 2002); and the recently outlawed Al Aqsa Fund, based in Germany.

Interpal has continued to transfer money to Hamas in recent months. In 2002, it transferred $6 million, of which between $3-$4 million were used in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. At the same time, the Interpal leadership asked Arafat for help in funding its activities, as they were very concerned about the possibility that they would be closed down and that they themselves might suffer. The fund's leaders asked Arafat and the Palestinian Authority to publicly support and sponsor its activities; which they believed would make it more difficult for their organization to be harmed. It is as yet unclear how the Palestinian Authority has responded to this request. But the Palestinian Authority has not taken any concrete steps against Hamas operations so far.

The Al-Aqsa Fund is mainly active in the Netherlands and Germany and maintains smaller delegations in Denmark and Belgium. The fund continues, albeit indirectly, to transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars to Judea, Samaria and Gaza. In August 2003, the European courts were not convinced that it was funding for hostile terrorist activities.

 

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