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Khaled Mashaal, exiled political leader of Hamas, center, arrives at Tehran's airport in Iran, Sunday. (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners February 20, 2006 |
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The head of the Arab League says members are meeting this week to hammer out a plan for sending millions of dollars a month to the Palestinian Authority, despite U.S. attempts to stop the flow of money to the new Hamas-led government.
Secretary-General Amr Moussa said that foreign ministers from several Arab countries were to meet Monday in Algiers to examine a plan to send about $50 million a month to the Palestinian Authority. A final decision is not expected until Arab leaders meet in a summit next month in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.
The money is part of Palestinian funding the Arab League approved last year - before Hamas' election victory in January. Saudi Arabia and Qatar have already contributed to the financially strapped Palestinian Authority and more money is on its way, Moussa said Sunday.
The $50 million monthly stipend, however, only represents what the Arab League initially pledged give the Palestinians during a summit nearly four years ago, and some Palestinians voiced skepticism that their fellow Arabs would come through.
"Since the Arab summit in Beirut in 2002, the Arab governments decided to give the Palestinians $600 million a year. That never materialized. The Arabs made promises, but never delivered," said Samir Ghattas, head of the Palestinian Al-Kuds Research Center.
"It the Arabs did not pay (deceased Palestinian President Yasser) Arafat, why should they now pay Hamas?" Ghattas asked.
Noting that Hamas had its roots in the radical Muslim Brotherhood, Ghattas asked: "How can the Arabs give money to a Muslim Brotherhood which threatened them in each and every country. Do they have an interest in encouraging a Muslim Brotherhood movement to take over? The answer is no."
A senior Palestinian official, who refused to be identified because he did not wish to embarrass fellow Arabs, agreed with Ghattas' figures.
"The maximum that Arab countries have paid is $100 million of the $600 million they agreed to give," he told The Associated Press.
He noted what he felt was the irony of a situation in which the United States formerly pushed the Arabs to live up to their funding pledges, while now encouraging them not to send money to a Hamas-led government.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice cautioned Iran and other Middle East powers against giving money to a Hamas-led government. She also expressed doubt that the militant Islamic group could raise badly needed international financing unless it changes its policies.
The United States considers Hamas a terrorist group, and Washington has ruled out direct funding for a Hamas-led government. Rice reiterated Friday that the United States will continue to finance humanitarian projects for the Palestinians.
After its landslide election victory, Hamas now is moving to form a government and has nominated Ismail Haniyeh, a prominent Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, as the prime minister. The new Hamas-led parliament convened Saturday.
The terror group - which has claimed responsibility for dozens of suicide bombings against Israel - has rejected Arab and international pressure to moderate its stances, recognize Israel and commit to peace deals already signed between Israel and the Palestinians.
"I would hope that any state that is considering funding Hamas, a Hamas-led government, would think about the implications of that for the Middle East" and for the goal of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, Rice told a group of Arab reporters Friday.
Rice is planning a trip to the region this week to reinforce the U.S. message during talks with leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Mohammad Sobeih, Moussa's deputy, said the Arab League expects the Arab governments to brush aside the U.S warnings. "This is a summit resolution and no one is expected to ignore it," he said referring to Arab funding of the Palestinian Authority.
The Palestinian Authority gets a large part of its approximately $1.9 billion annual budget from overseas sources. Without money from the Arab world, Europe and the United States, a Hamas-led government would be nearly broke.
Hamas leaders have said they will look elsewhere for money and were expected to appeal to Arab states and Iran.
AP contributed to this report.
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