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Bush
Targets Palestinian Orphans: CBSP
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Bush
decision may deprive these orphans from their sole supporter
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By
Hadi Yahmed, IOL France Correspondent
PARIS,
August 23 (IslamOnline.net) - The France-based Committee for
Palestinian Charity and Aid (CBSP) Saturday, August 23, dared U.S.
President George W. Bush to prove “his allegations” that the
charity group gives money to any Palestinian resistance faction,
insisting the freeze decision means starving thousands of orphans in
the occupied Palestinian territories.
In
exclusive statements to IslamOnline.net, spokesman of Comite de
Bienfaisance et de Secours aux Palestiniens, or CBSP, Youcef
Benderbal said: “Bush demand that our offices be closed for
financing Hamas is indeed surprising and even shocking. Everyone -
especially the French authorities - knows that our efforts and
donations are solely directed to charities with a defined aim of
supporting the orphans and establishing development projects to
benefit them.
“Our
job aims at easing - as much as possible - the suffering of the
Palestinian children who have no hand in the conflict on the ground,
yet, they are the party that pays most dearly because of it”.
Benderbal
further added that last month (July), with the help of the French
authorities, “we received 17 orphans from the West Bank city of
Nablus. They were offered all proper accommodation for a nice holiday
in northern France of Lyle.
“The
Committee has also organized continuous campaigns within the ranks of
Arab and Muslim communities in France and Europe to encourage
supporting the Palestinian orphans. In addition, we collect donations
to finance development projects such as Olive Hope that encourages the
Palestinians to plant their lands through digging wells, marketing of
olive oil in Europe.”
According
to Benderbal, the committee also accomplished other projects like
“10,000 school bag for Palestinian children, providing hospitals
with ambulances and wheelchairs for the handicapped”.
On
the possibility of a French positive response to the U.S.
administration’s demand of freezing the Committee’s works,
Benderbal said: “The French Authorities have been closely monitoring
the committee’s finances since its establishment in 1990. Had they
realized any fishy activities, they would not have waited for the
Americans to tell them what to do.
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Food
delivered by the CBSP
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“Of
course there may be huge U.S. pressures, but I believe the
transparency of our activities and the independence of the French
decision can weaken such pressures.”
“Closing
the offices of the committee means depriving thousands of Palestinian
orphans from the essential financial support, from studying tools,
clothes…etc,” added Benderbal.
The
CBSP was established in 1990, according to the French Law for
Societies 1901 that enforces the monitoring of all financial dealings
of charity organizations. It has three offices in Paris, Lyle and Leon
and it - basically - offers aid to Palestinian orphans in the West
Bank and Gaza, in addition to refugees in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
In
a statement Friday, August 22, Bush said that "at my
direction" the Treasury Department has moved to block and freeze
the assets of the six top Hamas leaders.
They
were identified as Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas,
Rantissi, Mussa Abu Marzouk, Khalid Mishaal, Imad al-Alami, and Osama
Hamadan.
The
freeze also targets five non-governmental organizations that Bush
charged of providing "financial support to Hamas."
Two
of the organizations are the CBSP and the Association de Secours
Palestiniens (ASP) in Switzerland.
The
other three are INTERPAL in Britain, the Palestinian Association in
Austria, and the Sanabil Association for Relief and Development, based
in Sidon , Lebanon.
The
U.S. Treasury Department put the five groups on a list of
"Specially Designated Global Terrorists."
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