Palestinian govt closes scores of charities
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) — The Palestinian government said it has ordered more than 100 charities closed following a review that the rival Hamas movement has slammed as a crackdown on the Islamists.
In an interview with several Palestinian newspapers published on Tuesday, prime minister Salam Fayyad said 103 associations in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip had been ordered to close.
The charities and local associations affected had "committed legal, financial and administrative violations," Fayyad said.
He denied the move targeted Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement that derives much of its support from a network of welfare agencies and associations.
"We are applying the law and these measures are 100 percent legal," Fayyad said. "The associations concerned by this decision have the right to appeal before the courts."
Hamas blasted the decision from the Gaza Strip where it has ruled for more than two months after overrunning forces loyal to president Mahmud Abbas.
"This is a part of a wide conspiracy against Hamas," spokesman Fawzi Barhum told AFP. "This decision was taken in the framework of the war declared against Hamas and ordered by the Americans and the Israelis."
He said that the government move would only affect Hamas organisations in the West Bank, "and not those working in Gaza, as here we have a government."
When Abbas ordered a review of civil associations in late June, less than two weeks after Hamas's bloody takeover, the Islamists said it was aimed at closing their associations in the occupied West Bank where the secular leader and his Fatah party retain control.
"It is clear that they aim to finish with all that is Islamic and all that is not the colour of one sole party," Hamas said in a statement.
But Fayyad, appointed by Abbas after he sacked a Hamas-led cabinet following the Gaza takeover, said the review of the hundreds of associations operating in the Palestinian territories had been under discussion for some time.
"When there are violations of the law, should we do nothing because the fact that this association can be linked to Hamas and the subject is sensitive? That is not possible."
The interior ministry service responsible for tracking the associations said some had been violating the law for three years.
"We warned them, but they didn't respond," said Fadwa al-Shaer, a senior official with the service.
"Certain of them have not registered with the interior ministry as required by law, certain of them do not have bank accounts and others are no longer active," Shaer told AFP.
"It is not true that these associations are linked to Hamas, which anyone can go and verify on the ground," she said, adding that "the door remains open to those who want to discuss the decision."
