Palestinian Charities Help Hamas Gain Clout

Despite the Western freeze on aid to the Hamas-run Palestinian government, foreign money continues to reach the militant group’s network of social-welfare organizations, reports The Christian Science Monitor. Analysts say the charities are helping Hamas provide services and rapidly build a core of support for political Islam.

Sheikh Yazeeb Khader, an editor of Hamas’s West Bank newspaper, said that Gaza institutions are benefiting from the money that has been “brought across the border and not checked.” Yet links between Hamas and charities are hard to identify.

Basem Ezbidi, a political science professor at Bir Zeit University, says most Islamic charities have some connection to Hamas. “It’s general knowledge that Hamas is running health-care clinics, hospitals, and subsidizing tuition. But it’s done in an unpublicized forum.”