Funds Collected For Palestinian Cause Controlled By Islamic Societies In Gulf States

Manama, Bahrain (AHN) - Funds collected in this Arabian Gulf country for the Palestinian cause are heavily controlled and monitored by societies run under the umbrella of the Muslim Brotherhood. But the Palestinian ambassador here says such groups are misleading the public about the need for these funds.

Palestinian Ambassador to Bahrain Ahmad Abbas Ramadan told AHN in an interview that such societies were misleading the public by saying the Palestinian people do not require these funds.

"We need to help the common man in Palestine and Bahrain people are generously donating for this cause. But we have faced some problems with these societies," he said.

The Muslim Brotherhood movement, which is considered a threat to the Egyptian regime, found its way into Bahrain in the 1960s when students started to go for higher studies to Cairo.

The ambassador said Islamic societies were asking people to donate directly to them rather than approaching the embassy.

"We urge everyone to contact us and we will provide all the details of the beneficiary to the donors with the acknowledgement receipt. But these societies are saying the Palestinian people have too much money collected through funds," Ramadan said.

After the Israeli occupation, Arab states vowed to allocate an annual budget contributed by all of them to run the Palestine state affairs. But according to a recent report in the Washington Post, only three Arab countries out of the 22 that made pledges have contributed funds this year: Algeria, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Countries such as Libya, Kuwait and Qatar have not donated and owe the government more than $700 million in past-due pledges.

The report states that in the first half of 2008, Bahrain paid 13 percent, Oman 23 percent, Kuwait 35 percent, UAE 92 percent and Saudi Arabia close to 100 percent of its total pledges for the Palestinian cause.

Ramadan said they plan to soon launch a massive campaign in the Kingdom, targeting potential donors for funding students at Al Aqsa University. Dubbed the poor man's university, Al Aqsa is located in the Gaza Strip.

"We will be sending letters from the embassy to all businessmen to donate generously for the students. All the money collected will be directly sent to the University with fee receipts issued for the donors," the envoy said. He also urged potential donors to directly contact the embassy for details of the campaign and cost per student.

He said that university students were affected the worst by Israeli attacks."Some of these students are from poor families who cannot complete their education. This campaign aims to collect funds for these students," the ambassador said.

When asked about U.S. Sen. Barrack Obama's future policy on the Middle East, Ramadan commented, "The present policy is wrong and during the period of U.S. President George Bush it pretended to work on the Middle East issue. But the core issue of Palestine was ignored. They want to gain the vote of the Jews during this period. I am not asking to be bias with Palestine, but one cannot be bias to injustice. Obama should work for the interest for U.S. and the Middle East."

About 15 Palestinian families are presently being financially taken care of by Bahrainis. Close to 3,000 Palestinians reside and work in the country.

Bahrain's foreign policy on the Palestine issue stresses the necessity of dissolving the economic and financial blockades imposed on the Palestinian people.