Palestinian groups refuse funds

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Palestinian organizations are refusing to accept U.S. foreign aid this year, rather than sign a pledge promising that the money will not be used to support terrorism.

"This requirement is a worldwide requirement, not just for Palestinians," said Portia Palmer, a spokesman for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). "The majority of the [nongovernmental organizations] worldwide have signed it."

The Palestinian Non-Governmental Organization's Network (PNGO), an umbrella organization comprised of 92 Palestinian aid groups, is urging its members to refuse to sign the pledge.

The network includes hospitals, clinics, seniors organizations, human rights and law groups and other civil organizations. Phone calls yesterday to PNGO headquarters on the West Bank were not answered.

Groups such as Hamas do run social programs, but the groups also were behind many of the 106 suicide bombings conducted against Israel in the past three years.

The Palestinian Red Crescent, which has received about $300,000 a year in U.S. aid in the past, refused to sign the pledge and will forgo U.S. funding this year.

"We would like to take funds from them, but without conditions," Faiq Hussein, Red Crescent deputy director, told the Associated Press.

Since the 1993 Oslo Accords, the United States has distributed $1.3 billion for Palestinian programs in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, in humanitarian and economic assistance.

Congress has appropriated $125 million for Palestinian programs for 2003.