Region | Palestinian Territories
Iran urges Muslims to fund Palestine
Muslim Brotherhood to launch worldwide donation campaign for Hamas-led government
- Agencies
- Published: 00:00 February 21, 2006
Tehran/Cairo: Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called yesterday on Muslims worldwide to provide money to the Palestinians during his talks with the Islamic radical Hamas movement, state television reported.
"We must make a plan so all Muslims will be able to supply the Palestinians with a yearly financial aid package," Khamenei told Hamas' political leader Khalid Masha'al.
"This voluntary gesture will create a spiritual bond among Muslims and the Palestinian cause and have a great impact on the world," Khamenei said.
He lauded Hamas for not moderating its fierce resistance to Israel after its upset victory in Palestinian elections last month. "The Hamas positions are fundamental and right," he said, praising Palestinians for electing the Islamic party. "The Palestinian people voted knowing it meant choosing resistance and fighting the Zionist regime."
Injustice
The Palestinian National Authority (PNA), expected to be led by Hamas, is confronting a financial crisis after the faction's upset victory in January legislative elections over Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' secular Fatah party.
Israel's cabinet slapped economic sanctions on the PNA on Sunday.
In Cairo, the Muslim Brotherhood said it is launching a worldwide donation campaign for a Hamas-led Palestinian government.
The pledge by the Brotherhood comes as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice started yesterday a Middle East shuttle to caution regional powers against giving money to a Hamas-led government. The United States and Europe, the world's two largest donors to the Palestinians, said they will not provide funding directly to the Palestinian National Authority if Hamas heads the government.
"This is injustice and an attempt to impose a blockade on the Palestinians," said the Brotherhood's supreme leader, Mohammad Mahdi Akef.
"We will appeal to each and every Muslim to help the Palestinians in the face of this unjust and fierce campaign (against Hamas)," Akef said.
Also yesterday foreign ministers from several Arab countries were to meet in Algiers to examine a plan to send about $50 million a month to PNA. A final decision is not expected until Arab summit next month in Khartoum.
Swedish group pledges more aid
Sweden's state-run aid group yesterday pledged more than five million euros in additional aid to the Palestinian territories.
"The humanitarian situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has worsened," the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency said, adding that it would provide 5.3 million euros ($ 6.4 million or Dh23.5 million) to the United Nations' aid programmes there.
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