Israel, Fatah Crack Down on Hamas

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, attends Friday Muslim prayers at a mosque adjacent to his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Friday June 22, 2007. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) (Muhammed Muheisen - AP)

Haniyeh was scheduled to make a speech Sunday outlining Hamas' positions, his office said.

Palestinian officials, meanwhile, were stepping up their campaign to dry up Hamas funding. The interior minister, Abdel Razek Yehiyeh, was assigned to review all NGOs and to deny licenses to those considered in violation of the law.

Israeli counterterrorism expert Boaz Ganor said he believes about a dozen charities and NGOs are used by Hamas to funnel money. "I see this as one brick in the wall of countering Hamas," he said. "It's a necessary step by Abu Mazen (Abbas) who is trying to strangle Hamas right now."

However, Amjad al-Shawwa, coordinator of the Palestinian NGO Network, said it will be difficult to shut down badly needed charities.

In the West Bank city of Ramallah, 60-year-old Aishe Moussa on Saturday picked up her monthly $50 from a local Islamic welfare office. She said that with one son dead and three in an Israeli prison, she couldn't feed her grandchildren without the assistance. "If they close this place, it means we will face hunger and humiliation," she said.

Nidal Shabana, head of one of the biggest welfare associations in Gaza, al-Mujamma al-Islami, noted his group provides for 5,000 orphans and runs two clinics, 16 kindergartens and two schools.

"We are shocked by the decree of the president," he said. "We are associations that provide humanitarian assistance to all people."

Shabana's association had been set up by Hamas' founder, the late Sheik Ahmed Yassin.

In other developments Saturday, Abbas left for Jordan for talks with its King Abdullah, ahead of Monday's Mideast peace summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik. The summit will be attended by Abbas, Abdullah, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Egypt's Mubarak.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the Palestinians expect an Israeli promise to meet U.S.-set benchmarks for lifting travel and trade restrictions in the West Bank, he said.

"We hope that in Sharm el-Sheik, we will turn a new page," he said. "Now we should restore credibility to the peace process and restore hope that a peace agreement is doable."

Olmert was to seek the approval of his Cabinet on Sunday for some of these steps, including payment of hundreds of millions of dollars in Palestinian tax funds Israel had frozen when Hamas came to power in March 2006.

____

AP reporter Ibrahim Barzak contributed to this report from Ramallah.