Author: David R. Sands
Publication: The Washington Times
Date: June 16, 2004
U.S. lawmakers want to tighten foreign
aid laws to close loopholes that they say have allowed American aid dollars
to go to Palestinian groups working with or fostering terrorist-supporting
organizations. In one instance, about $410,000 in American aid helped finance
the new Salah Khalaf Recreation and Sports Center in the West Bank city
of Nablus. The center, officially opened May 29, is named for the man considered
the spiritual godfather of the Palestinian Black September faction responsible
for the 1972 massacre at the Munich Summer Olympics. The effort by U.S.
lawmakers was triggered by a report in Palestinian Media Watch that U.S.
Agency for International Development (USAID) money was being funneled to
Palestinian organizations even though they have refused to sign a pledge
saying they would not work with officially designated terrorist groups
such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. In addition,
Palestinian municipalities and universities have accepted substantial U.S.
aid, freeing up other funds for anti-Israel and anti-U.S. protests or to
honor terrorist "martyrs." Khalaf, the Black September leader, was a close
associate of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat until he was assassinated
in an intra-Palestinian feud in 1991.
Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania
Republican, sits on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee overseeing USAID
funding. "In light of the new disclosures, we're going to have to amend
the statute to prohibit U.S. funds from going to any entity, even municipalities,
from engaging in activities honoring terrorists or doing anything to condone
terrorist activities," Mr. Specter said. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Florida
Republican and chairman of the House International Relations subcommittee
overseeing Middle East issues, called the diversion of U.S. tax dollars
to such efforts "unconscionable."
Recipients of U.S. aid "must reject
terrorism as a condition of receiving that aid," she said. "The Palestinian
Authority apparently does not believe this is important to do."
Palestinian civic and aid groups
received $174 million last year from the U.S. government. In the wake of
the September 11 attacks, USAID has required aid recipients to submit a
"Certification Regarding Terrorist Financing" to ensure that no U.S. government
money is being funneled to terrorist groups. But the Palestinian Legislative
Council, dominated by Mr. Arafat's Fatah organization, rejected the demand
earlier this month, as did at least 30 Palestinian nongovernmental groups.
Azmi Shuaibi, chairman of the legislative council's economic committee,
called the USAID demand a violation of Palestinian Authority law forbidding
charities and nongovernmental organizations from accepting conditional
aid.
Mr. Shuaibi also accused Israel
of exploiting the issue to "distort the Palestinian national struggle"
by defining legitimate resistance groups as terrorist organizations. Hamas
and other militant Palestinian groups have extensive social and health
networks that operate throughout Palestinian territories. The head of one
Palestinian civil rights group called the USAID demand "cheap blackmail."
USAID West Bank and Gaza Strip spokeswoman
Monica Pataki said the agency had consulted extensively earlier this year
with Palestinian groups, seeking a compromise on the counterterrorism pledge.
She said the agency was acting in line with all U.S. regulations in its
programs in Palestinian territories.
Congressional alarm was triggered
by an unpublished report by Israel-based Palestinian Media Watch, which
maintained that USAID funds were going to Palestinian universities and
municipalities that had allowed anti-U.S. and anti-Israel protests.
USAID said it carefully monitors
grants made to individual Palestinian students, but many Palestinian campuses
receiving U.S. aid dollars also support official branches of Hamas and
Islamic Jihad. These two groups jointly control a number of college student
unions. One Palestinian university even staged a re-enactment celebrating
the deadly August 2001 suicide bombing of a Sbarro's restaurant in Jerusalem.
"We are in favor of money going
to support genuine projects helping Palestinians," said Itamar Marcus,
head of Palestinian Media Watch, which monitors the Palestinian press to
expose what it calls the "contradictions" between Palestinian rhetoric
and reality. "But it is scandalous that U.S. money is helping to promote
terrorism and to send a strong message to young people that these so-called
martyrs, whether Hamas killers or terrorists who killed American or Israeli
athletes, are heroes," Mr. Marcus said.
