In a press release issued, on Wednesday, the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, accused US administration of financing the election campaigns of Fateh candidates ahead of Palestinian general elections.
Hamas demanded that the Palestinian Authority launch an investigation into the matter, saying, “This is further proof of American, western involvement in internal Palestinian affairs”
The movement revealed fund corresponding between Andrew Natsios head of US Agency for International Development with Palestinian parliament member Nabil Amro, thanking him for putting his trust in the fund and adding that he “received his letter regarding the financing of the campaign of Amro and his associates”.
In response, the USAID said the document was forged and that it does not finance political candidates or parties.
Amro also denied the existence of the document, saying the affair was part of a smear campaign launched against him by his political rivals.
“The document is a reflection on the moral deterioration of the political rivalry,” he said.
“We understand that the Washington Institute for Middle Eastern Studies has already been funding you for the past two years” Natsios was quoted as saying in the letter,
“We are willing to finance you as long as you maintain your position against Hamas,”
Natsios also asked that the numbers of 30 bank accounts be belonging to Fateh candidates running in both the internal Fateh and general elections.
The group warned that silence over the repeated attempts to intervene in Palestinian affairs via the financial-political connection, “opens the door for greater American intervention and the creation of a rift between the Palestinian nation and its fighting organizations."
