Posted on 07/01/2002 5:13:44 PM PDT by JohnathanRGalt
ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 2126, Garden Grove, CA 92842-2126 USA
E-mail: assistcomm@cs.com, Web Site: www.assist-ministries.com
Monday, July 1, 2002
P.A. FINANCE MINISTER FORMER EMPLOYEE OF BANK ALLEGEDLY RECEIVING HAMAS FUNDS
Sources Say It's Unlikely He Ever Knew
By Jeremy Reynalds
Special Correspondent for ASSIST News Service
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (ANS) -- A web site which includes an appeal for donations by the outlawed Hamas organization to buy guns and bullets, www.qassam.net/tabaro3.htm continues to remain on line.
The site was electronically traced as being hosted by servers in Houston, TX., belonging to Everyone's Internet.
Jeff Lowenberg, vice- president of operations for Everyone's Internet, said all he was able to say was the company does "cooperate to the best of our ability with all law enforcement requests."
When asked if he could comment further, Lowenberg said he would not disagree with comments made by a company spokesman some weeks ago that appeared in the Houston Chronicle.
In that story, company officials said while they initially blocked the sites when they were brought to their attention, that they put them back on line when requested to do so by the U.S. Customs Service.
The on-line English appeal for donations on that site ends with this statement.
Donator brother, send us at the e-mail available at Martyr Izz el-Deen el-Qassam Phalanxes's web site and send us a fake name and the amount that you want to donate and we will secure handing this money to the mujahideen .. You can send any inquiries to support@qassam.org.
An e- mail sent in the middle of May to that address produced (in part) the following response. "Dear donor, We assure you that all the money will be given to no body but to all the Mujahideen in Palestine. This is the bank account : Name: Ayman ataya Mansoor. Bank account no.: 38924/2/510 Arab bank- Gaza branch- Palestine ."
An e- mail sent to the same address last week requesting information produced slightly different information to which money could be wired. "This is the bank account : Name: Ahmed Mohammed Ali Elbatech Bank account no.: 38926/9/510 Arab bank- Gaza branch- Palestine."
E - mails sent to the Arab Bank seeking comment were not answered. Phone calls to both the Arab Bank Administration and its Gaza Branch asking if there was anyone available who could speak English and comment on the Bank's alleged maintenance of terrorist bank account(s) were answered with a comment in broken English, "We don't have anyone who speaks English.."
Interestingly, a former regional manager for the Arab Bank, Salam Fayaad (who is still listed on the Arab Bank's web site as being the Regional Manager of the Arab Bank's Palestine branches although he has not worked there for about a year) has now been appointed by Yasser Arafat as his new finance minister. Along with other ministers, Fayaad is charged with helping implement reform in the Palestine Authority, regarded by some as being both too large and corrupt.
According to a recent commentary in the Jerusalem Report on line, "As finance minister, Salam Fayyad will be responsible for instituting transparency and accountability, and for stopping money trickling into private pockets, or being used to fund terrorism."
And in the May 31 edition of the Jerusalem Post, President Bush praised the appointment, saying "That is a positive development, because one of the things that worries us is spending any international aid on an authority that might not keep good books; that the money might not actually get to help the Palestinian people, but might end up in somebody's pocket."
I have to admit that after learning about Fayyad's former position with the Arab Bank and the organization's alleged dealings with terrorists that I initially wondered about the wisdom of Fayyad's appointment and his mandate to, basically, root out corruption.
However, through a well-placed source with contacts in the region I was told it is very doubtful Fayyad ever knew the Arab Bank's Gaza Branch was allegedly (and apparently continues to ) receive funds connected to the Hamas. In fact, Fayyad is regarded by a couple of individuals familiar with the Israeli and Palestinian situation as "clean" and "very well respected" by both Palestinians and Israelis. He was further described by one of the same people as a bright spot in the P.A. who doesn't put up with any kind of corruption."
While it looks like Fayyad's in the clear, that still doesn't answer the question why a Houston-based internet service provider continues to carry a clearly worded appeal from a terrorist group that is dedicated to the destruction of Israelis. Enquiring minds want to know.
Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer and the founder and director of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, www.joyjunction.org or www.christianity.com/joyjunction. He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico and is pursuing his PhD in intercultural education at Biola University in Los Angeles. He is married with five children and lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds at reynalds@joyjunction.org. .
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