Unease Over West Bank Raids

Abu Hasan, the parent and lawyer, said that while the Islamic school includes religion in the curriculum -- as do the government schools -- it does not teach students to follow Hamas's ideology.

Abu Hasan said that he and several other lawyers are challenging the closure order in court. But he is not optimistic.

"The problem is the military bases this order on secret evidence. There's nothing that we can argue with and debate," said Abu Hasan, whose work typically involves representing Palestinian prisoners, including members of Hamas. His office was raided this week.

Israel says its raids of Hamas-affiliated schools in the West Bank have turned up propaganda for the group and posters glorifying violence against Israel.

"The incitement is very obvious," said Maj. Avital Leibovich, a spokeswoman for the Israel Defense Forces. "They take advantage of very weak populations and educate those populations according to Hamas rules."

Israeli officials say the Hamas charities function on a variety of levels that all help the movement to grow: They foster goodwill toward Hamas at a time when its military and political activities, which are banned in the West Bank, have been forced underground; they give the group a powerful platform for recruitment; and they offer a convenient front for funneling money that ends up being used for military training and weapons.

But not everyone in Israel's security establishment agrees with the wisdom of the latest crackdown, arguing that acting too quickly could leave large segments of the population in need and with nowhere to turn. "There needs to be an alternative to these organizations. We can't just cut them off in one day," said one high-ranking security official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

Fatah, long beset by corruption, does not provide the social services its rival does. And in a place where about half the population favors Hamas, it is difficult to find any institution in the West Bank without some sort of link to the group.

Among the organizations raided within the past week were several that said they were completely independent of Hamas, though it is impossible to know the political affiliation of all their board members and donors.

"This association doesn't have any political connections. It's only involved in charitable work," said Ali Basyouni, chairman of an organization that provides medical and educational services to refugees in Nablus's sprawling camps.

Nonetheless, Israeli soldiers raided the group's office last week, seizing computers and leaving a spray of files scattered on the floor beneath a prominently hung portrait of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Across town, the Nablus Mall had also been hit. Although not a charity, the mall is said by Israel to be owned by a company with ties to Mayor Adli Yaish, a Hamas politician who is in an Israeli prison.

The five-story mall was Nablus's first, and with its skylights, escalators and polished marble floors, it would not be out of place in a U.S. suburb. The shops feature children's toys, home furnishings and low-cut women's dresses.

While Israel says the mall helps fund Hamas's military campaign, the merchants say that most own their own shops and that the closure of the mall on Aug. 15 -- as Israel is threatening -- will ruin them.

"Everything that I had, I've invested in this shop. It's my livelihood," Baha al-Baz, 23, said as the stuffed cartoon characters Winnie the Pooh and Tweety Bird peered over his shoulder. "All of the owners just come here to work. It's not Fatah. It's not Hamas. It's a shopping mall."