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02/23/2006:

"Iran offers to finance Hamas"

Iran offered to help finance the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority led by Hamas, a move that prompted an immediate warning from Israel, AFP reported.

The Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, announced the offer after a meeting with Hamas political leader, Khaled Mashaal, in Tehran, state radio reported.

Larijani said the decision was taken after the United States said it won’t finance a Hamas-led government. "The United States proved that it would not support democracy when it cut its aid to the Palestinian government after Hamas won the elections. We will certainly help the Palestinians," Larijani said.

"Hamas is a genuine popular movement which has always pursued the objective of recovering the rights of the oppressed Palestinian people; but unfortunately the Americans have never paid any attention to this matter,"

The Americans‘ decision “to stop financial aid shows that they are not seeking to promote democracy in the region, contrary to their claims on the Middle East [road-map] proposal,” he added.

Asked if Israel would block the Iranian funds., Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said: "we would be entitled to use all legal means to prevent that money from reaching its destination."



Anti-Zionism jews pledge support for Hamas’ Haniyeh
Following Hamas’ announcement of appointing Ismail Haniyeh as the new Prime Minister of its government, Rabbi Hirsch, of the Neturei Karta of the Orthodox Jewry, sent the new PM a greeting message expressing the Jews’ support of the newly democratically elected Palestinian government led by Hamas, the Islamist anti-occupation movement that has a rich history of struggle for the welfare of the Palestinian population that has long suffered under the merciless occupation of the Israeli forces.

Neturei Karta has long rejected the bloody Zionist policy pursued by the Israeli government, the result of which was the killing and the suffering of thousands of innocent Palestinians, including women and children.

Neturei Karta stands as one of the strong anti-Zionism Jewish groups that support the Palestinians’ struggle to liberate their lands. It acknowledges that Zionism contradicts the original teachings and principles presented in the Holy Torah.


Palestinians Are Being Robbed by Israel
It is evidently difficult to scrub off the sticker that is glued onto the front window. That's why when a new car from Germany or South Korea or the United States rolls onto the packed streets of Gaza or Ramallah, it generally has the big label with thick, red Hebrew letters forming the word "Checked" stuck on its windshield for several months.

The label is a mark of the special customs and security checks conducted at the Israeli seaports of Ashdod or Haifa, which serve as the main entrances for most of the foreign goods bound for the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinians import all sorts of products: water pumps from Sweden, bulldozers and boxes of corn flakes from the United States, plastic toys from China, washing machines from France and cheese from Denmark — and virtually all of them reach their destinations only after they've been through Israeli port authorities and Israeli security checks.

At the ports, Palestinian importers are required to pay the Israeli authorities the value-added tax of 17%, as well as whatever custom taxes are due on goods that come in on their way to the West Bank or Gaza. These transactions (along with direct Palestinian transactions with Israeli firms and merchants) last year yielded revenues of $711 million.

But whose revenues are they?