The "war of statements" which has been fought all along the Palestinian arena at
home and abroad during the month of June does not seem to be over yet. Preliminary
indications however, suggest that Palestinian Chairman Yasir 'Arafat has managed to
contain the consequences of the statements issued by the "Free Officers," the
"Fatah Crazies - Gaza," and the "Honest Children of Palestine" which
were all unanimous on denouncing the "PA's administrative and financial
corruption."
Nevertheless, the Hamas Movement is still finding it difficult to contain the
differences within its leading members. These differences are the product of political
contradictions, personal ambitions, regional alliances and financial scandals.
The Hamas Movement is, of course, denying that such differences exist. We have received
and published a reply by the Hamas Movement in Al-Watan al-'Arabi Magazine, edition number
1162 dated 11 June 1999. The reply dealt with a topic which the magazine published
concerning the differences within the Hamas Movement. Even Dr. Mahmud al-Zahhar, the Hamas
Movement official in charge in Gaza, sought to calm down the situation, although he was
one of those whom the fingers of accusation were pointed at by the Hamas organizations
abroad.
To calm down an intensifying situation within the Hamas Movement, he said that the
statement issued by the "groups of martyr Yahya 'Ayyash" attacking Shaykh Ahmad
Yasin was a "fabricated" statement. However, the sources of this magazine, which
are reliable Islamic, Hamas, Palestinian and Arab sources, have a first-hand knowledge
with what is going on within the Islamic resistance movement.
These sources have confirmed that the conflict within the Hamas Movement is real and
that there is more than one party getting ready to become involved in the conflict and to
escalate the dispute between the Hamas organizations at home and abroad. The information
that this magazine has been able to gather confirms that there has been a scandal
involving the embezzlement of funds in which several officials of the Hamas Movement
abroad have been accused.
These officials have been accused of squandering the movement's funds and embezzling an
unidentified amount of money. The embezzled funds are however, estimated at some US $l
million to US $3 million. These funds have been allocated for distribution to the various
Hamas organizations within the Palestinian territories.
Islamic circles in the Gulf with very close links to Shaykh Ahmad Yasin, the spiritual
leader of the Hamas Movement, have asserted that Shaykh Yasin has given his instructions
for the follow-up of the disappearance of these millions given as aid to the Hamas
Movement during his tour of some Arab countries and Iran last year. These circles have
even confirmed that Shaykh Yasin is personally following up on the matter.
According to these Islamic circles in the Gulf, Mustafa al-Liddawi, the former
representative of the Hamas Movement in Lebanon, received an amount of money estimated at
some US $l million to US $3 million more than a year ago from 'Imad al-'Alami,
representative of the Hamas Movement in Damascus and the official in charge of the
management and transfer of Hamas funds to the movement's organizations in the Palestinian
territories.
It seemed that al-Liddawi had suggested to al-'Alami to invest the funds on a temporary
basis with the hope of making profits that could be used in financing commercial deals
with companies from the republics of the former Soviet Union, particularly companies in
the Ukraine, as well as other companies in Canada and Denmark with the participation of
businessmen Amin. 'Ayn Ha and Shaykh 'Ali. Ya from Sidon in south Lebanon, provided that
the profits are divided among the partners.
However, luck was not on the side of al-'Alami and al-Liddawi this time. After making
enormous profits from the investment of the movement's funds, they were surprised that
some of the companies they were dealing with were imaginary companies which soon
disappeared after the funds were transferred to their accounts.
Meanwhile, other companies, such as the Ukraine company, refused to pay the price of
the goods shipped to it citing unreasonable excuses in this connection. Financial
officials at the Hamas Movement believe that the failure of these deals is due to the
economic crisis which engulfed most countries of the world, particularly the Asian
countries and the states of the former Soviet Union.
In the aftermath of the failure of the recent deals and the squandering of the funds,
al-"Alami and al-Liddawi began to exchange accusations against each other regarding
who is responsible for the loss of the funds.
By virtue of the fact that they were living abroad, they were fabricating stories and
false excuses to the Hamas Movement at home about the delay in transferring the funds to
the organizations of the movement, which began to cut down on their activities because of
lack of funds.
Al-'Alami held al-Liddawi alone fully responsible for the loss of the movement's funds,
sought to remove him from his post as representative of the Hamas Movement in Lebanon, and
appoint Usamah Abu-Hamdan in his place. It is noteworthy that Abu-Hamdan was serving as
the deputy of al-'Alami, when the latter was serving as the Hamas Movement's
representative in Tehran and is viewed as his closest aide.
These scandals have prompted the Hamas Movement at home to start investigation
concerning the funds which are received from abroad. It soon became evident that more
millions were handed over to the Hamas leaders abroad as contributions to the Hamas
organizations in the Palestinian territories.
These contributions were made during the religious holiday of "Id al-Adha and 'Id
al-Fitr and during the holy month of Ramadan. The investigation has revealed that only a
small fraction of these funds were transferred to the Hamas Movement at home while the
larger portion of the contributions went to the pockets of the Hamas leaders stationed in
a number of Arab capitals.
The news caused a violent shock in the ranks of the Hamas Movement at home. When the
scandal was exposed, the Hamas home leaders could hardly believe that a thing like this
could happen, particularly if we take into consideration the difficult living conditions
of the residents of the Palestinian territories.
The Hamas home leaders were especially concerned that the difficult economic conditions
will aggravate the damage done to the Hamas Movement as a consequences of the exposure of
the scandals.
It has been learned that Shaykh Ahmad Yasin was furious and indignant at the
irresponsible attitude of the Hamas leaders abroad. He was quoted by his close aides as
saying that he felt embarrassed every time he was asked by Gulf donors about the funds
donated to the Hamas Movement.
These funds were given as donations. Shaykh Yasin could not give a satisfactory answer
every time he was asked. It is noteworthy that the Gulf donors gave personal promises to
Shaykh Yasin during his visit to the Gulf region that they will continue to assist his
movement. It has been learned that the afore-mentioned Gulf donors have requested Shaykh
Yasin to exercise tighter control on the management of the movement's funds.
The donors have expressed the desire that these funds should be used to finance
projects from which the Palestinian people could benefit and that they were not intended
to land in the pockets of the Hamas leaders abroad, who have a penchant for luxurious
living and insist on having luxurious offices with very expensive furniture, modern cars,
real estate and extravagant villas.
The Gulf authorities noted that the donors themselves can hardly afford this style of
living. Islamic Gulf circles, which have been following up all the details of these
scandals, have admitted that they were surprised with the gravity of these abortive
financial deals, all the more so because they have driven a large wedge in relations
between the Hamas home leadership and the movement's leaders abroad.
These circles have pointed out that Shaykh Ahmad Yasin was particularly indignant for
what he described as the movement's loss of its independent decision and its reliance on
foreign sources.
In this context, Shaykh Ahmad Yasin recalled Iran's attempts to influence the
movement's decisions to become compatible with the Iranian policy in the region,
particularly Iran's recent attempts to finance and train independent groups to carry out
operations inside the Palestinian territories at direct orders from Tehran. Consequently,
the Hamas Movement would become an instrument in the hands of Iran manipulated to
influence the situation in the region.
Shaykh Yasin has also voiced his indignation at the exceptionally strong relations, as
he put it, between 'Imad al-'Alami, former representative of the Hamas Movement in Tehran,
and the Iranian leadership. He noted that these Iranian actions contradict the promises
made to him by the Iranian leadership during his visit to Tehran after he was released
from prison.
The Islamic Gulf sources also say that Shaykh Yasin is very dismayed and suspicious of
the visits and contacts which some Hamas leaders abroad are making with a number of other
countries. He does not believe that these countries are genuine allies with the Hamas
Movement. Shaykh Yasin believes that the aim of these visits and contacts by some of the
Hamas leaders abroad is to find allies supporting their differences with the Hamas
leadership at home.
The Islamic Gulf sources noted that these financial scandals and the power struggle
between the Hamas leadership at home and abroad were probably one of the significant
factors that have prompted the participation of Shaykh Ahmad Yasin, Dr. Mahmud al-Zahhar,
Isma'il Abu-Shanab, and Isma'il haniyah in the meetings of the Palestinian Central Council
last April.
However, informed Palestinian sources, which have a first-hand knowledge of all the
aspects of the power struggle between the Hamas leaderships at home and abroad, view the
"embezzlement of millions of dollars" as only one factor of a series of factors
that threaten to create a major split in the Hamas Movement. Nonetheless, the embezzlement
seems to be a very important factor because it involves the financial resources which the
Hamas Movement depends on at home to finance its charity and social institutions at home
and to build up its image and consolidate its popularity...
Discussions are focused on Shaykh Yasin's desire to reshuffle the movement's leadership
abroad. Serious consideration is now given to appointing Dr. Musa Abu-Marzuq as head of
the politburo to replace Khalid Mash'al. Abu-Marzuq had occupied this post before his
arrest in the United States. He has very close links with Shaykh Yasin and supports the
shaykh's stands toward developments in the Palestinian arena.
Abu-Marzuq was the only person who did not oppose the decision of Shaykh Yasin to
participate in the meetings of the Palestinian Central Council. As for Shaykh Yasin, he
views Abu-Marzuq as a man who does not bargain over his patriotic convictions and is not
the type of man who can be dragged easily behind adventures that are dangerous to the
future of the Palestinian people."
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