Posted on 08/28/2003 1:52:05 PM PDT by TastyManatees
No European Rush to Back U.S. Vs. Hamas
By AUDREY WOODS
Associated Press Writer
LONDON (AP) -- European governments that rushed to the side of George W. Bush when he declared war on terrorism are divided in their response to the president's latest rallying call - to cut off funding to the radical Palestinian group Hamas.
The European Union has put the Hamas military wing, Izzedine al Qassam, on its list of terrorist organizations, but it has resisted American appeals to ban the Hamas political wing as well.
The British and Dutch are pushing to add more Hamas-linked groups to the list when the EU foreign ministers meet in Italy on Sept. 5-6 to discuss the issue.
But France, Belgium and others are reluctant for fear of cutting off avenues of negotiation with the Palestinians, according to diplomats in Europe. They are also concerned harming the social work Hamas does would create more hardship for the Palestinians and risk a still more violent backlash.
German officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, noted that Hamas provides a lot of social services for Palestinians - but that after the latest Mideast peace setbacks, Berlin would not oppose a harder line.
"There's movement in several EU countries, including Germany, toward banning the political wing and freezing its assets," said Muriel Asseburg, a research fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin.
"It's a difficult debate, and a decision is not easy."
European diplomats, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the outcome may be that the EU adds more groups to the blacklist but stops short of listing Hamas as a whole.
Bosnia said Thursday that it was unwilling to act against the political wing of Hamas and would only seriously consider such a ban if the European Union did so.
"Bosnia accepted the decision of the United States and the European Union about the ban of the military wing of Hamas but we cannot regard the charities in the world as organizations that can be a threat to security and peace," said Miranda Sidran, spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry of Bosnia.
There is considerable sympathy in Europe for Palestinians suffering in a seemingly endless conflict that has left them in poverty and despair. Many in Europe would see a cut in humanitarian funding as harsh.
Hamas "is regarded as a legitimate movement and party within Palestinian society ... 97 or 98 percent of the movement's activity is geared toward social needs," said Magnus Ranstorp, director of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St. Andrews University in Scotland.
Underlying that view is the idea that the political and military wings of Hamas can act separately - one doing good and the other wreaking devastation and death on Israelis.
Others, including the Bush administration, disagree.
"There is no Chinese wall. The money that goes in there is used in both directions and anyone who would say otherwise is engaging in wishful thinking or being outright deceptive," said Dan Mulvenna, a professor at the Center for Counterintelligence and Security Studies in Washington.
Last week, Bush froze the financial assets of six top officials of Hamas as well as five European charities said by the administration to be sending cash to the militants. Bush said he had taken the action to freeze the assets because Hamas claimed responsibility for an Aug. 19 suicide attack on a packed bus in Jerusalem that killed 20 people.
On Tuesday, Britain took action against a British-based aid group that Bush accused of aiding Hamas. Washington's major European ally in the war against Iraq froze the bank accounts of Interpal and opened a formal investigation.
The Palestinian Authority has frozen 39 bank accounts of nine Islamic charities in what appeared to be part of the U.S.-sought crackdown on Palestinian militants, according to an official document obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.
Palestinian officials said Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas believes two of the charities - Al Jamiya Al Islamiya and As-Salah - are fronts for Hamas.
Mulvenna said extremists grouped around al-Qaida are trying to make the Palestinian cause their own - "with a measure of success."
"It is to their advantage to blur the lines, make the Palestinian struggle part of the worldwide jihad against the infidels," he said. Many Palestinians have seen that as a trap and are not buying into it, he added. "But there are probably those who do."
In the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, al-Qaida's threat was a stark international reality. Bush's call for allies to fight Osama bin Laden brought a quick international response.
Europe has not ignored Hamas. Over the past year, the EU has added the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development and the Islamic fund-raising group Al Aqsa Netherlands to its list of terrorist organizations, contending that some of their money was being funneled toward Hamas' military activities.
Last year, the German government outlawed a German charity, also called Al Aqsa, under post-Sept. 11 anti-terrorist laws for allegedly funding Hamas by collecting donations for the families of Palestinian suicide bombers.
The charity appealed the ban, saying it only provides aid such as food and medicine to the needy. Last month a German federal court suspended the measure, saying the government's evidence was unclear.
When Bush announced the funding freeze on the Paris-based Committee for Charity and Aid for the Palestinians, the French were already investigating it and said the government will share its findings with its European partners.
The group's spokesman, Benderbal Youcef, said the U.S. accusation was "totally false."
"We have no other task but to bring support to a civilian population that is hard hit," he said. "Our action in Palestine is humanitarian and only humanitarian and it's not my fault if Hamas are also there."
Representatives of the other charities on the U.S. list made similar comments.
Swiss Justice Ministry spokesman Folco Galli said Switzerland has received no request from the United States for judicial assistance in any investigation of the Association for Palestinian Aid, a Swiss charity that the U.S. Treasury said was connected to the French group.
Switzerland has worked hard to shake off its reputation as a haven for shady money and usually moves quickly to block suspect accounts.
Austria said its counterterrorism agency had already investigated the Palestinian Association, an Austrian-based group on the U.S. list, and found no evidence of wrongdoing or grounds for charges.
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Associated Press reporters Paul Ames in Brussels and Tony Czuczka in Berlin contributed to this report.
Of course, all of our useful idiots over here deserve the 'ol Darwin as well.
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