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EU adds 5 Palestinian groups to its terror list

Specail to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Wednesday, June 19, 2002

LONDON Ñ The European Union has added five Palestinian groups to its list of terrorist organizations.

One of the groups is financed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. The EU issued an expanded terror list on Tuesday that included groups that already appear on a U.S. terror list. They included the addition of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, financed and controlled by Arafat, the Damascus-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Palestine Liberation Front, the Abu Nidal Organization and the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.

The Holy Land charity has been blacklisted by Washington and was said to have served as a means of financing Hamas. The EU placed the military wing of Hamas on the European terror list.

The EU also placed the Kahane Chai group on its terror list. The group is named after assassinated Israeli parliamentarian Meir Kahane.

In all, the list contains 35 individuals and 31 organizations. The Beirut-based Hizbullah was not included on the EU list.

European diplomats said EU countries are not compelled to sanction those appearing on the terror list. They said European governments are granted the discretion to impose a range of sanctions or freeze their assets.

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