TEL AVIV Ñ A new Israeli report relayed to the United States details
what officials term has been Saudi financing for Palestinian militants.
The report is based on Palestinian Authority documents captured during
the Israeli military offensive in the West Bank in April. The documents
detail the flow of funds by Saudi government institutions to Hamas and
Islamic Jihad. The PA did not receive direct Saudi funding, according to the
documents.
"The documents clearly unveil that Saudi Arabia transferred inter alia
large sums of money in a systematic and ongoing manner to families of
suicide terrorists to the Hamas organization and to persons and entities
identified with Hamas," the Israeli report, which has been relayed to the
United States, said.
A source of funding for Hamas, the report said, was the Riyad-based
Saudi Committee for Support of the Palestinian Uprising, Al Quds, an
organization headed by Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef Bin Abdul Aziz.
The committee reported the transfer of $55.7 million mostly to the families
of suicide bombers and to the families of imprisoned or injured Palestinian
militants.
The report said the contributions from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab
states constituted the main part of Hamas's budget, including that for
suicide bombings. At one point, the report said, PA Chairman Yasser Arafat
tried to stop Saudi funding to Hamas.
A document captured in the offices of the Tulkarm Charity Committee
listed Saudi payments to Hamas. The report cited the transfer of $545,000
[2.04 million Saudi riyals] to 102 families of those who died during the
Palestinian insurgency war against Israel. The document said the family of
each Palestinian casualty -- termed as having been killed in a "martyr
operation" -- received $5,340.
In a letter captured by Israel, Saudi officials complained that the
Tulkarm center had announced that Riyad was compensating the families of
Palestinian militants. Saudi committee general secretary Walid Bin Abdul
Razak Al Dai warned that the Saudi committee was not to be mentioned without
official permission.
"The house rules of the Saudi Committee for Support of the Palestinian
Uprising, Al Quds prohibits publication in the name of the committee to be
made without a written consent or official appointment to the matter," the
letter said.
The captured Palestinian documents reported that the Saudi committee
transferred money to a network of charities linked to Hamas. They include Al
Salah Association in Gaza City, the Islamic Association in Hebron and the
Coalition of Benevolence. The coalition is headed by Yusef Qardawi, an
Egyptian born sheik who now lives in Qatar.
"About a month ago, financial aid was transferred to detainees in
prison," a PA Preventive Security Apparatus memorandum dated Feb. 10, 2001
read. "The source of this aid is in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia refused to
give this money to the Palestinian Authority out of fear that the money may
not reach the detainees."
[In Riyad, the official Saudi Press Agency reported on Wednesday that
the kingdom has transferred more than $500,000 to the PLO. The agency said
this was the second remittance by government-sponsored People's Committee
for Assistance of Palestinian Fighters this year.]
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell did not deny
Saudi financing to Palestinian militants. He said the issue has been raised
with Saudi Arabia, which has argued that the kingdom is sponsoring needy
Palestinians.
"With respect to payments to organizations such as Hamas and similar
organizations, we have spoken to our Arab friends, and the president has
made reference to this in his speech, that this kind of payment should
stop," Powell said.
"The Saudis would say that they are not giving it to an organization,
they're giving it to individuals in need," Powell said. "Nevertheless, I
think it's a real problem when you incentivize in any way suicide bombings."
