KUWAIT CITY, 24 April 2006 — The cash-strapped Palestinian Authority has received $50 million in aid and another $40 million was on the way, the foreign minister of the Hamas-led government said yesterday. “We have received $50 million from the Arab League, while $40 million more is on the way,” Mahmud Zahar told a press conference in Kuwait. The Palestinian minister, however, did not elaborate on his statement.
Zahar arrived here yesterday on a two-day official visit as part of a regional tour to urge Arab countries to accelerate their aid transfer to Palestinians in the face of a US-led boycott.
“I think that during the current tour, we will be able to raise” the needed funds, said Zahar, adding that the Palestinian government needed some $140 million monthly.
Zahar held talks with Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Mohammad Al-Sabah, who pledged that the emirate “will provide its share of aid under the Arab summit decision.” At its last summit in Khartoum at the end of March, the Arab League agreed to allocate $55 million per month to the Palestinian Authority. Kuwait’s share amounts to around $7.5 million monthly.
The Palestinian Authority has been facing a cash crisis since Hamas’ election victory in January after the United States and European Union drastically cut aid to the body.
The Palestinian Authority has also been hammered by Israel’s decision to withhold tens of millions of dollars in customs duties it collects from the Palestinians. Zahar said that with $55 million monthly from Arab states and some $60 million in tax revenues “I think we will be able to overcome the current (cash) crisis.”
Nabil Amr, a senior aide to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, said yesterday that the transfer of funds which had reached the Arab League for Palestinians had been blocked, blaming foreign opponents.
He said “several parties have warned Palestinian financial establishments against handling sums destined for the government formed by Hamas.” Asked who the “parties” were, Amr fingered Israel, the United States and the European Union.
Palestinian officials and Western diplomats said on Saturday that banks were refusing to transmit Palestinian Authority funds because of the threat of US sanctions.
A Palestinian official said the Jordan-based Arab Bank recently turned away a transfer of $50 million from Qatar. Western diplomats say the Arab Bank, already facing US regulatory scrutiny and lawsuits over alleged funding ties to Hamas, has frozen the Palestinian government’s main treasury account. Arab Bank officials have refused to comment. Senior Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said Abbas’ office has received $35 million in funds from Algeria and was in the process of receiving $10 million from Russia. Erekat said the money, pledged directly to Abbas’ office as opposed to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, was being used to pay Palestinian gas bills and other debts.
Abbas, meanwhile, arrived in Turkey yesterday on the first leg of a European tour to discuss stalled talks for Middle East peace and aid to his cash-strapped people. “We will tell our Turkish brothers what is happening in the Palestinian territories,” Abbas told reporters upon his arrival, the Anatolia news agency reported.
