Russia and Iran will become new sponsors of the Palestinian Authority

power struggle

The financial crisis that gripped the Palestinian Authority after the victory of the extremist group Hamas in the elections resulted in street protests. Dissatisfied with delayed salaries, police officers, supported by Fatah activists, seized a number of administrative buildings in Khan Yunis on Saturday and demanded the resignation of the recently elected government. Meanwhile, the economic blockade imposed on Hamas by the West for its stubborn refusal to recognize Israel failed to force the new Palestinian government to make concessions and led the group to search for new donors, and not without success. At the end of last week, Tehran and Moscow decided to help Hamas.

“Either pay your salaries or get out” - under this slogan, several dozen police officers, supported by activists of the Fatah movement, took to the streets of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. After first blocking key roads in the city, protesters then forced their way to a complex of administrative buildings, demanding that the Hamas government that came to power in January elections fulfill its commitments or resign. According to the police themselves, over 140 thousand Palestinian law enforcement officers are currently awaiting salaries.

The police protests were a consequence of the financial crisis that gripped the Palestinian Authority after the radical Hamas movement came to power. Let us recall that earlier this month the United States and the European Union announced the cessation of financial assistance to Palestine, estimated at billions of dollars annually, on the basis that Hamas is in no hurry to abandon terrorist methods of struggle and recognize Israel’s right to exist. Israel itself, meanwhile, froze $50 million in monthly customs and tax payments to the Palestinians and announced that it would cease contact with all foreign officials who maintain close relations with Palestinian officials. In practice, this means that if any of the foreign guests dares to meet with representatives of the new Palestinian administration, he will not be received by anyone from the Israeli leadership (such a ban was in effect at one time in relation to Yasser Arafat).

The UN is also ready to partly follow Israel's example: last week, the organization's Secretary General Kofi Annan made it clear that UN contacts with the PNA will be limited until the Hamas government renounces terrorism and recognizes Israel. In parallel, the US Treasury Department last week banned American companies and individuals from conducting any financial transactions with Palestine, giving national corporations a month to break current contracts and programs with autonomy.

Meanwhile, the curtailment of financial assistance by the West, coupled with $1.3 billion in debts inherited by Hamas from the previous government led by Fatah, does not seem to have broken the fighting spirit of the current Palestinian leadership. “We will eat seeds and salt, but we will not give up our principles,” Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said on Friday, adding, “We no longer have hope in the Europeans, and we rely only on Allah and our will.”

Hamas's determination not to succumb to outside pressure was confirmed by its recent refusal to accept the initiative of the League of Arab States, which called on the Palestinian government to make peace with Israel if it returns to the 1967 borders. The head of the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, Mahmoud Al-Zahar, who came to the Arab League congress in Cairo to ask for help from Arab countries, said that concluding peace with Israel runs counter to the goals of Hamas.

At the same time, the need to replenish empty coffers forced Hamas to start looking for new sponsors. At the end of last week, the chairman of the Hamas Politburo, Khaled Meshal, visited Tehran, where a forum of solidarity with the Palestinian people was held. One of the main results of the trip was Iran’s promise to help the new Palestinian government by allocating $50 million for its needs. In addition, as the authoritative Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post reported on Friday, about two weeks ago, to resolve the issue of assistance to Palestine, Khaled Meshal visited Yemen, where met with Sheikh Abd al-Majid al-Zindan, whom the United States considers an al-Qaeda financier.

And last week, Russia joined the list of those ready to help the impoverished Palestinian Authority. On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the financial boycott of the PNA was a mistake, and on Friday, in a conversation with the head of the PNA, Mahmoud Abbas, he announced the allocation of emergency financial assistance to the Palestinian authorities (the amount and timing of assistance are still unknown).

It is possible that Moscow’s current actions will complicate its already difficult relations with the United States and Israel, which reacted extremely negatively to the fact that in early March Russia was the first and so far the only one of all the countries of the Middle East “quartet” (in addition to the United States and Russia, it includes European Union and UN) - received the official delegation of Hamas in Moscow. In the middle of last week, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack expressed on behalf of the Washington administration his wish that Moscow coordinate all its actions with its partners in the Middle East settlement.

NATALIA Kommersant-PORTYAKOVA

Helping hands extended to Hamas