GAZA, 15 December 2006 — Israel prevented Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh returning to Gaza from a trip abroad yesterday to stop him bringing in money donated by Muslim states.
Palestinian officials and Western diplomats said Haniyeh, a leader of the governing Hamas movement, was planning to enter the impoverished Gaza Strip from Egypt through the Rafah border crossing with $35 million of cash in suitcases.
An Israeli security source said Israel had “indications” that Egypt, which has allowed Hamas officials to pass through the border with funds in the past, had confiscated all or some of the cash in Haniyeh’s possession.
The source suggested Haniyeh would be allowed to cross without the money once European border monitors who had been evacuated returned and the crossing reopened. A source at Rafah said two of Haniyeh’s aides would remain behind with the cash.
An Egyptian security source, however, said the money will be deposited into an Egyptian bank, which will transfer it into a Palestinian Authority account.
“We are awaiting the return of the Europeans so that we can cross tonight,” Haniyeh told a Hamas radio station. “Soon I will be with you.”
Some 2,000 Hamas supporters, including men firing in the air, stormed into the Rafah border terminal after Israel ordered it shut, witnesses said. A Hamas police force and a contingent loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas also shot in the air in a bid to clear the terminal, but the rival security groups then began shooting at each other, and at least six people were wounded, the witnesses said.
Israeli security sources said Defense Minister Amir Peretz had given the order to close Rafah after receiving information that Haniyeh was trying to bring in money after his two-week fund-raising tour. Haniyeh has visited countries including Qatar, Iran and Sudan to raise money for his government, which has struggled to function due to international sanctions including financial restrictions imposed after Hamas’ election win in January.
Hamas says it uses funds from sympathetic states to pay government salaries and keep essential public services running. Israel says it believes the money goes to Hamas fighters. Israel, the United States and the European Union imposed sanctions after Hamas rejected their demands to recognize the Jewish state, renounce violence and accept existing interim peace accords.
Since those sanctions were imposed, Hamas officials have managed to bring about $80 million in cash into Gaza via Rafah, according to European diplomats.
