Security forces confiscate cash from Hamas official

A senior Hamas official today tried to sneak £434,000 into the Gaza Strip, hiding 500-euro bills in a white pouch tucked under his shirt in the first major cash smuggling attempt by an increasingly desperate Hamas government choked by Western economic sanctions.

Palestinian security forces confiscated the cash at the Egypt-Gaza border and moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas’ main political rival, ordered a criminal investigation.

Abbas’ decision was bound to further heighten tensions, after police loyal to Abbas and a new Hamas militia exchanged fire earlier today.

Hamas demanded that the money be returned, saying it was collected among private donors abroad and intended for Gaza’s poor.

The alleged smuggler, Hamas spokesman Abu Zuhri, “resorted to this way ... when all other ways were blocked,” said government official Ghazi Hamad.

Hamas has been unable to bring tens of millions in aid from Arab and Muslim countries into Gaza because Arab banks, afraid to run afoul of US anti-terrorism legislation, refuse to transfer the money.

The West froze massive aid to the Palestinian Authority when Hamas came to power in March.

The new government has been unable to pay 165,000 civil servants, whose income feeds one-third of the Palestinians.

Hamas has been digging in, rejecting Western demands that it recognise Israel and renounce violence.

It has launched fund-raising drives in mosques, asking worshippers to donate to the public coffers.

In one Gaza City mosque, about 500 people dropped cash and gold jewellery into collection boxes after Friday prayers.

However, the campaign appears largely symbolic, since the government needs £80million a month to pay salaries and provide basic services.

Abu Zuhri, the Hamas spokesman, was returning from Qatar today when he was caught with the cash by Palestinian border guards at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza.

Travellers must declare any sum over 2,000USD and explain where the money came from, said Julio De La Guardia, spokesman for European observers at the crossing.

Abu Zuhri carried the money in a white pouch under his shirt and jacket. “He did not declare that money, he tried to smuggle it,” De La Guardia said.

Dozens of Hamas gunmen briefly blocked the crossing after the money was confiscated.

Abu Zuhri was escorted out of the terminal by another Hamas official.

“We are upset to be dealt with this way at a time when the Palestinian people are suffering from siege and starvation,”Abu Zuhri told the Arab satellite TV station Al-Jazeera.

Abbas sent the money to the Palestinian attorney general, with the request to open an investigation against Abu Zuhri, said Saeb Erekat, an Abbas adviser.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau based in Damascus, Syria, said the money should be returned.

“This money is part of the money supporting the Palestinian people which the (Palestinian) Authority cannot confiscate,” Abu Marzouk said.

In another area of dispute, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said he would not disband the new Hamas security force, made up of militants, and might even expand it.

Hamas deployed the 3,000-strong force earlier this week, despite Abbas’ vehement opposition.

The deployment has considerably raised tensions in Gaza, with Palestinian police loyal to Abbas increasing their presence in the streets, as a counterweight to the heavily armed Hamas gunmen.

Before dawn today, two policemen and a Hamas gunman were wounded in a gunfight near the Palestinian parliament building and the police headquarters.

However, Abbas rules out using force to disband the Hamas militia, said an aide, Tayeb Abdel Rahim.