Flow of Saudis' Cash to Hamas Is Scrutinized
By DON VAN
NATTA Jr. with TIMOTHY L. O'BRIEN
 IYADH,
Saudi Arabia, Sept. 16 — Nearly a year ago, Khalid Mishaal, a senior
leader of Hamas, the militant Palestinian organization, attended a
charitable fund-raising conference here where he talked at length with
Crown Prince Abdullah, the de facto Saudi ruler.
According to a summary of the meeting written by a Hamas official,
Mr. Mishaal and other Hamas representatives thanked their Saudi hosts
for continuing "to send aid to the people through the civilian and
popular channels, despite all the American pressures exerted on them."
"This is indeed a brave posture deserving appreciation," the Hamas
officials said, the document said.
Today Mr. Mishaal, who was recently added to the United States
Treasury Department list of what it calls terrorist financiers, controls
a wing of Hamas that advocates violent confrontation with Israel,
including suicide bombings.
As relations between the Israelis and Palestinians continue to
deteriorate, in no small part because of recent Hamas-sponsored suicide
bombings, Saudis have come under fresh scrutiny by American and European
investigators here and in Israel for their political and financial
support of the group.
At least 50 percent of Hamas's current operating budget of about $10
million a year comes from people in Saudi Arabia, according to estimates
by American law enforcement officials, American diplomats in the Middle
East and Israeli officials. After the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the
Saudi portion of Hamas financing grew larger as donations from the
United States, Europe and other Persian Gulf countries dried up,
American officials and analysts said.
The estimated donations coming from Saudi Arabia — about $5 million a
year — are a significant sum for Hamas but a very small portion of the
hundreds of millions of dollars that flow into Saudi charities each
year, officials said. Nearly all the donations are given in cash, making
it extremely difficult for Saudi and American authorities to track the
money.
"It's a ridiculous accusation; no Saudi government money goes to
Hamas, directly or indirectly," said Adel al-Jubeir, the foreign affairs
adviser to Prince Abdullah. "Why on earth would we not stop this kind of
funding? Why on earth would our crown prince say we do not want to
support Hamas and then allow people to do this under the table?"
Saudi officials say their government's support for Palestinian causes
goes solely to the Palestinian Authority, about $80 million to $100
million a year.
Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, has denied that
his government has financially supported Hamas or charities that serve
as front organizations for Hamas. Prince Saud has said the government
aids the Palestinian Authority because it is "the sole representative of
the Palestinian people."
The American Treasury secretary, John Snow, who is to arrive here on
Wednesday on a trip through the Middle East and Central Asia to address
the financing of terrorism and economic development, said a major theme
was to press Palestinian and Saudi authorities to crack down on Hamas by
choking off its funds.
During two days of meetings in Israel, which ended today, Mr. Snow
conveyed a message of caution from the White House to Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon, urging him not to carry through with the threatened
"removal" of Yasir Arafat and to halt construction of a barrier around
Palestinian territory. But Mr. Snow aimed his strongest criticism at
Hamas.
"The terror has to be stopped because the terror lies at the very
heart of the region's troubles," Mr. Snow told Palestinian political and
business leaders. "Hamas is clearly identified with terror. You have to
go after it."
He said the White House was also asking Syria to crack down on Hamas.
Mr. Mishaal and other senior Hamas leaders are based in Syria.
The document that outlined Mr. Mishaal's visit with the Saudis, in
October 2002, was seized by the Israeli military during a raid in Gaza
last December, and a copy was recently given to The
New York Times by
a former Israeli official. The summary is written in Arabic on paper
with a Hamas letterhead and was translated into English by the Israeli
military.
Four senior American law enforcement and diplomatic officials who
reviewed the document did not dispute its authenticity, but declined to
discuss its contents.
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