Kim Bullimore
Palestinians have protested US and European Union economic and political sanctions against the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority government, which was elected on January 25. On April 7, Washington and the EU both moved to freeze all direct aid to the PA, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The freeze includes a ban on the payment of salaries for PA employees funded by the EU through the World Bank.
Despite confirming that the PA is "not a designated foreign terrorist organisation", a memo issued by the US Treasury Department on April 14 prohibited US citizens from participating in any unlicensed transactions with the authority, citing "existing terrorism sanctions" as the reason.
The move came one day after the PA launched a media campaign on Arab websites and television stations, sponsored and backed by the League of Arab States. The campaign appeals for individuals to make donations to help alleviate the crisis faced by the PA.
Hamas has issued a statement saying the financial crisis has been exacerbated by the office of PA President Mahmoud Abbas. An April 14 Ha'aretz article reported that the statement claimed the PA "had been stripped of all its savings and cleaned out of all income sources such as border crossings and the Palestinian investment funds and other sources", which had been placed under the control of Abbas. Abbas and Fatah have also moved to retain control of PA security forces.
The Hamas statement accused "Palestinian elements" of being complicit in the Israeli and US campaign to isolate the PA in order "to bring about the failure of the government and to establish a new government contrary to the Palestinian interest".
The economic war being waged by the EU, the US and Israel, far from weakening support for Hamas in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, has strengthened it. Thousands of Palestinians have joined rallies across the OPT, outraged at the refusal of Israel and the West to accept the outcome of democratic elections and protesting the ensuing economic and military attacks.
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, April 26, 2006.
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