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World

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Rules For Gaza

How to bypass Hamas in getting aid to the Gaza Strip.

Ron Kampeas
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Hamas, according
to the agencies that
deliver relief to the
Strip.
Washington
"With humani-
tarian supplies,
or the Obama administration,
we've been able to
reviving the Gaza Strip is like
do it — we have
a multimillion-dollar version
our own channels
of whack-a-mole: Every where you slam
with food and
down cash, Hamas pops up.
medicine,' said
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Bill Corcoran, who
Clinton has pledged that the money,
heads Anera, a
promised in the wake of the devastating
relief group that
December-January Gaza war, won't reach
works with USAID.
the terrorist group controlling the Strip.
He works with
"We have worked with the Palestinian
local nongovern-
Authority to install safeguards that will
mental organiza-
ensure that our funding is only used
tions that are unaf-
where, and for whom, it is intended, and
filiated with Hamas
does not end up in the wrong hands," she
or the government.
said at a funders conference earlier this
Corcoran just
month in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el
returned from
Sheik.
Gaza and described
Clinton pledged $900 million in U.S.
a postwar situation Trucks wait along the Israel border to cross into Gaza.
aid for the Palestinians, with $300 million
with 90 percent
set aside for Gaza. The rest is designated
That likely would involve a "wink and a
of the population
for the West Bank-based Palestinian
nod,"
Garber said, for instance by working
needing
food
assistance,
a
devastated
Authority, controlled by moderates who
with
a
local NGO that itself had no Hamas
landscape
and
children
on
the
verge
of
work closely with Israel and the United
ties
—
but that was not bound by U.S.
malnutrition.
States.
rules
that
would keep its officials from
"We've
delivered
about
$1
million
in
The breakdown published by her
stopping
by
the mayor's office to coordi-
starches,
protein,
everything
from
tuna
to
department on the day of her March 2
nate
the
laying
of pipe.
canned
meat':
he
said.
"They
don't
have
speech provided the first clues as to how
Hamas
knows
how to play the game,
fresh
vegetables
and
fruit.
If
you
see
fresh
disbursing the money will not violate
too,
Garber
said.
After
seizing power,
vegetables
and
fruit,
it's
being
imported
U.S. laws banning dealings with terrorist
Hamas
tossed
out
a
moderate
who was
from
Israel,
and
it's
so
expensive
it's
out
of
groups.
mayor
of
Gaza
City.
But
the
terrorist
group
a
family's
reach."
The cash, the statement said, will "meet
kept
him
as
the
head
of
the
water
carrier,
Where
it
might
become
tricky
avoid-
urgent humanitarian needs, including
knowing that he was an acceptable go-
those identified under the U.N. appeal and ing Hamas is when relief necessarily
between.
bleeds
into
reconstruction,
Corcoran
said.
to support the P.A.'s plan for Gaza." This,
Another way to avoid Hamas is to have
Rebuilding sewage systems, for instance,
the statement said, would be provided
a massive infrastructure of one's own in
will be necessary in order to avoid the
through the U.S. Agency for International
spread of disease. That requires some liai- place. That's how the United Nations Relief
Development "in coordination with U.N.
and Works Agency, the principal agency
son with local authorities — in Gaza, that
agencies, international organizations
delivering relief to Palestinians, does
inevitably means Hamas.
and USAID grantees, and through the
it, according to its spokesman, Andrew
Larry Garber, who ran USAID opera-
Department of State for U.N. agencies',' the
Whitley.
tions in the region in the early 2000s, said
International Red Cross Committee "and
"We don't work through subcontractors"
he does not envy his successors.
other humanitarian organizations!'
at present, Whitley said, "and when we do
"In our time there was no Hamas in
Translation: The money would go
contract anything, we go out through a
government or in control of government
strictly to relief and not to reconstruction,
normal tendering process!' Those contrac-
unlike funds designated for the West Bank, or the Gaza Strip," said Garber, who now
which include infrastructure projects. Also directs the New Israel Fund. "It was simply tors are not vetted for political affiliations,
he said.
a matter of vetting individuals or organi-
significant is the requirement that the
He acknowledged having to deal with
Palestinian Authority sign off on disburse- zations who are not affiliated with Hamas.
Hamas officials at the most basic levels of
"Today you have additional issues of
ment.
how to get things in that are not controlled distributing relief, but not through formal
Confining aid, for now, to relief makes
associations.
or regulated by a Hamas official."
it much easier to avoid dealing with

F

A number of U.S. lawmakers have said
that UNRWA is not stringent enough
about sidelining Hamas. U.S. Rep. Mark
Kirk, R-Ill., has suggested adding a layer
of oversight by bringing in the U.S. Special
Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.
That office has earned plaudits for
unearthing patronage in Iraq spending.
Kirk said that expanding its reach to over-
see relief to the Palestinians would not
cost the U.S. taxpayers additional money.
Kirk said UNRWA is vulnerable because
most of its staff is comprised of local
hires.
UNRWA officials have said their mis-
sion, with a staff of more than 25,000, is
too vast to rely solely on outsiders.
Another factor affecting the distribu-
tion of assistance is Israel's control of the
crossings into Gaza. U.S. Sen. John Kerry,
D-Mass., the chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, intervened
two weeks ago when he found out the
Israelis were withholding some types
of food. Clinton reportedly also has laid
down the law.
That's a sign of the times, Corcoran of
Anera said. He detects "a new tone" from
U.S. officials who agree with relief groups
about the urgency of the situation.

March 19 • 2009

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