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UAE to give $15m to Gaza every month
The United Arab Emirates will provide US $15m per month to Gaza, a Palestinian official said Thursday in a sign of UAE-based Mohammad Dahlan’s increasing influence.
Samir Al-Masharawi, an ally of former senior Fatah official Dahlan, said: “Fifteen million dollars will be pumped monthly from the beginning of next month to the Palestinian Joint Liability Committee in support of relief, humanitarian and development projects in the Gaza Strip to alleviate their suffering.”
The payments are connected to an agreement reached in June between Dahlan, Hamas and Egypt which established the Joint Liability Committee and allowed for Egypt to send fuel trucks to Gaza to bring the Gaza power station back online and supply electricity to residents.
The June agreement also included an understanding that Hamas will remain responsible for the internal security of the Gaza Strip, whilst a body – headed by Dahlan – would run Gazan civil affairs with a US $50m budget.
The body will be reportedly financed by taxes the Palestinian Authority (PA) traditionally collected from Gaza. The funds will be used to pay civil servants as well as manage the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt. Egypt would then open the Rafah crossing. The understanding has yet to be implemented.
The head of Hamas’s Gaza-based political wing Yahya Sinwar told journalists on Tuesday that the Egyptian government had agreed to open the Rafah crossing for goods and passengers after the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
Commenting on the reports of UAE funding, Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said that if implemented, everyone would be a winner – Hamas, Dahlan, UAE, Israel – apart from Qatar and Abbas.
Dahlan has been based in exile in the UAE since falling out with Abbas and being expelled from the Fatah party.