How the Donors Saved Hamas

by Khaled Abu Toameh • October 14, 2014 at 5:00 am

Rebuilding or repairing infrastructure in the Gaza Strip is the best thing that could have happened to Hamas. Hamas knows that every dollar invested in the Gaza Strip will serve the interests of the Islamist movement. The promised funds absolve Hamas of all responsibility for the catastrophe it brought upon the Palestinians during the confrontation with Israel.

Hamas will now use its own resources to smuggle in additional weapons and prepare for the next war with Israel. Hamas can now go back to digging new tunnels and obtaining new weapons instead of assisting the Palestinians whose homes were destroyed as a result of its actions.

The biggest mistake the donor states made was failing to demand the disarmament of Hamas as a precondition for funneling aid to the Gaza Strip. Hopes that the catastrophic results of the confrontation would increase pressure on Hamas, or perhaps trigger a revolt against it, have faded.

Who decides whose aid money is used for terror tunnels and weapons, and whose aid money towards humanitarian aid? Above, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohammad al-Attiyah at the Gaza Donors Conference in Cairo, Oct. 12, 2014. (Image source: U.S. State Department)

It would be naïve to think that Hamas would not benefit from the billions of dollars that have just been promised to help with the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, during a donor conference in Cairo.

The Palestinians were hoping for $4 billion, but the donor states pledged $5.4 billion, half of which will be "dedicated" to the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, according to Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende.

It is not yet clear how the second half will be spent.

Qatar, a longtime supporter and funder of Hamas, promised $1 billion, while US Secretary of State John Kerry announced immediate American aid of $212 million. The European Union, for its part, pledged $568 million.

Donor states said they would funnel the aid only through the Palestinian Authority [PA]. But this does not mean that Hamas, which continues to maintain a tight grip on the Gaza Strip, would fail to benefit from the financial aid.

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Turkey: Jihad-Lite

by Burak Bekdil • October 14, 2014 at 4:00 am

Turkish and U.S. officials are now planning to push the "moderates" onto the battlefield. The "moderates" -- Islamists featuring lighter shades of jihad -- will be trained at a military base in Turkey to specialize in bombing, subversion and ambush, paid for by U.S. taxpayers, and expected to fight Islamists featuring darker shades of jihad.

The "moderates" are a potential threat to Western security interests. They are potential allies of Turkey's Islamists.

If Turkey had not funded and armed ISIS in the hope that it would bring Assad's downfall, none of this would have happened.

Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu seems unsure which is worse, the radical Islamists of ISIS or Syria's President Bashar Assad. (Image source: Agencia Brasil)

In November 2013, Iran's ambassador to Ankara, Alireza Bigdeli, said: "Just as Imam Khomeini did it in Iran, the Justice and Development Party [AKP] have paved the way for the advancement of Islam in Turkey."

Nearly a year later, the AKP's new leader (and Turkey's Prime Minister) Ahmet Davutoglu rephrased the Iranian diplomat's "praise" for Turkey's Islamists: "We have made the conservative, pious (Muslim) masses not a just a part, but the main actor, in the political system."

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