Author: Conal Urquhart in Gaza
City
Publication: The Observer, UK
Date: September 1, 2002
URL: http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,784146,00.html
Hama, the Palestinian group responsible
for suicide bombings in Israel, has launched an unlikely charm offensive
aimed at convincing Palestinians it is capable of becoming their political
voice.
In a move that has alarmed Yasser
Arafat's Fatah organisation, Hamas (Islamic Resistance) has launched social
services designed to lure supporters away from the group which controls
the Palestinian Authority.
Hamas has seized on dissatisfaction
with the authority to offer food and medical care to the poor, educational
materials to the young and many emergency needs. It has been so successful
at attracting moderates it has increased sixfold the money it spends on
welfare. Last week, for the first time, it jumped ahead of Fatah in popularity
among Palestinians in an opinion poll.
The survey, by the Palestinian Centre
for Policy and Research, showed Hamas was backed by 27 per cent of Palestinians,
while support for Arafat's Fatah fell from 32 to 26 per cent. But according
to the same poll more than 70 per cent of Palestinians also want reconciliation
with Israel once peace has been achieved, suggesting that its charitable
work will not convince people of its strategy.
Ismail Abu Shenab, a Hamas political
leader, said the group now supplied 15 per cent of all aid distributed
in Gaza. 'This is an important factor in our growing popularity, combined
with the success of our martyrdom operations and our pure image in contrast
to the corruption of the Palestinian Authority.'
Many Palestinians share Abu Shenab's
belief that the Palestinian Authority is corrupt and failing to support
them. At the offices of Al Mujamma al Islami (the Islamic Bloc) above a
mosque in the poor Sabra district of Gaza City, a queue of women and children
formed to apply for medicine and grants for spectacles and hearing aids.
The charity was founded by Sheikh
Ahmad Yassin, the Hamas leader, and is run by Mohamed Shamau, who said
the Israeli blockade was crippling Gaza. 'They target our sources of income,
the factories and the farms and they have stopped 120,000 people in Gaza
from working in Israel.'
Some of the women claimed their
requests for help had been denied by the Palestinian Authority. Gallia
Ledawi, 57, a mother of five, said her husband needed medicine for a heart
condition but it could not help. 'They [Hamas] are the only ones who are
merciful to us,' she said. According to UN figures, more than 70 per cent
of the Gaza Strip's 1.3 million inhabitants live in poverty.
Dr Ziad Abu Amar, an independent
member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said Israel was content
to weaken the authority's and give Hamas indirect support. 'They want to
neutralise Arafat and the authority as symbols of a Palestinian state they
no longer want. Once they are done with Arafat, they'll turn to the international
community, point at Hamas and say look at the devil we must deal with now.'
