Associated Press
CAIRO: The Arab League has transferred some $50 million to the Palestinians, the first funding since international aid was cut off after the Hamas militant group won legislative elections, a top Palestinian official and the Arab League said Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia was also expected to transfer another $50 million to the Palestinian Authority on Tuesday, the Arab League said.
Nabil Shaath, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the Arab aid money bypassed the Hamas government and was transferred directly to Abbas on Monday.
The Palestinian president will control how the funds are spent, he said.
The EU, the U.S. and other donors froze hundreds of millions of dollars in direct aid to the Palestinian government after Hamas won elections in January, demanding that the group recognize Israel and cease all support of terrorism.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa in Cairo, Shaath said the Arab League had transferred half of the $100 million, while Saudi Arabia planned to directly transfer the other half later in the day.
This is a glimpse of hope … and a step toward squeezing-out of the siege, said Shaath.
Moussa said the Hamas-led government had had knowledge of the transfer. The transfer was in complete coordination with the Palestinian government, he said
Since March, Arab states have collected more than $100 million in aid for the Palestinians, but the money could not be transferred because international banks refused to allow the Arab League to transfer funds electronically to Palestinian territories, fearing sanctions from the U.S., which labels Hamas a terror group.
Shaath and Moussa did not specify how the funds were transferred to the Palestinian Authority on Monday, or where the money had come from.
The Hamas government, nearly bankrupted by the international sanctions, has resorted to bringing cash in suitcases to help keep itself afloat.
Twice last month, globe-trotting Palestinian cabinet ministers returned to the impoverished Gaza Strip at the border crossing with Egypt with millions of dollars stuffed in their luggage.
The ministers did not specify who had donated the cash. International sponsors of a stalled Mideast peace plan agreed last month to channel aid to Palestinians for health care, utilities and social services, while continuing to boycott the militant-led government.
Major world donors set a mechanism through which international aid would be provided to keep the Palestinian economy afloat, and urged the Arab governments to follow suit. This channel was set to be managed by the World Bank and the EU, working with Abbas, whose Fatah movement is the main political rival of Hamas.
While non-Arab League donors have not so far sent aid to the Palestinians through the channel they created, Moussa said the league had been in contact with the international mechanism over its transfer on Monday.
Money can be transferred if it is going to the President and if it is under his supervision, his deputy Mohammed Sobeih told The Associated Press.
The EU has said foreign funds would not be used to pay the salaries of Palestinian government workers, which Israel opposes, but could be used, for social allowances to health workers and needy families.
Shaath did not specify on Tuesday how Abbas will disburse the money received from the Arab League and Saudi Arabia Shaath s announcement came amid mounting Palestinian-Israeli tension over the abduction of Israeli serviceman Cpl. Gilad Shalit by Gaza-based militants affiliated to Hamas.
