Brotherhood plans worldwide campaign to finance Hamas
CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood said on Monday it was launching a worldwide donation campaign for a Hamas-led Palestinian government in the face of USefforts to stop the flow of money to the hard-line group.
The pledge by the Brotherhood, which has branches and affiliated groups in 86 countries, comes as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice started on Monday a Middle East shuttle to caution regional powers against giving money to a Hamas-led government. The United States and Europe, the world's two largest donors to the Palestinians, said they would not provide funding directly to the Palestinian Authority if Hamas heads the government.
"This is injustice and an attempt to impose a blockade on the Palestinians,"said the Brotherhood's supreme leader, Mohammed Mahdi Akef.
"We will appeal to each and every Muslim to help the Palestinians in the face of this unjust and fierce campaign (against Hamas)," Akef told the AssociatedPress. Akef did not give details about the campaign but he said it would be launched worldwide.
Another Brotherhood leader said the group would ask its supporters to donate one quarter of their income to support Hamas. "The Muslim Brotherhood (supporters) are ready to give a quarter of their income of more to support the Palestinian cause and back Hamas," Mohammed Hilal told the Cairo-based Al-Masry Al-Yawm newspaper.
Arab and Islamic governments are also trying to make up any shortfall in Palestinian finances caused by a cutoff in Western aid.
The Organisation of the Islamic Conference, a 57-member grouping of Muslimnations, plans to provide institutional and financial aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said on Monday.
"We will (provide funding). I have already spoken to some (OIC) leaders about it. We want to help, too," he told The Associated Press. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said the money is part of Palestinian funding the 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.
Donations for the Palestinians in the past produced little and many Palestinians are skeptical that new pledges by fellow Arabs would come through.
The United States considers Hamas a terrorist group, and Washington has ruled out direct funding for a Hamas-led government. Rice reiterated Friday that theUnited 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.
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